


Memories of the Past

by Yvette J (HowNovel)



Category: Starman (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-25 18:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/273167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowNovel/pseuds/Yvette%20J
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sharon, a teenage girl, must come to grips with her parents divorce and custody battle.  She sees Paul on the beach using his sphere and runs away only to meet up with them later.</p>
<p>Revised and updated story from original written in 1998.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories of the Past

  
**Memories of the Past**  
By: YvetteJ

Copyright © 1998 & 2014\. All rights reserved. This story is a work of fiction based on characters and situations created in the 1984 feature film and 1986-87 television series, _STARMAN_. It is an amateur publication circulated without profit for the enjoyment of fellow fans. No infringement of existing copyrights is intended.  
---  
  
_‘Divorce’_. It was such an ugly word, but it was the reality for Sharon Peters. The 14-year-old girl made her way outside of the movie cinema. She had gone there to see a movie with two of her best friends, but afterwards, she just wanted to be alone. After a teary good-bye, she made her way in the direction of the coastal area where she lived. The seaside always offered her the solitude she needed and her primary interest at this moment was to reach the beach, sit down in the sand, and get a grip on her wayward emotions.

It had been decided in court earlier that week that she would have to leave the following day and move to Franklin, California and live with her mother. After having spent her entire life in the coastal city of San Diego, she was now being told that she would have to leave her home and move to a town located about 50 miles inland.

Upon hearing this news, Sharon thought she would die. Now, she would only be able to visit her father during school vacations and she would lose her beloved beach. Sharon had always adored the coastline, and from her father’s beach front home, she could see the water from her bedroom window. This gave her a strong feeling of freedom.

One of her favorite things to do was to walk along the coast at night, while the moon would cast its light off the still water in the distance. This evening, it was clear, and the moon was full.

After she had walked about a mile from the movie theater, she reached the seaside and removed the silver sandals that she wore on her feet. Walking did not bother her, she was into sports, and had become a fairly good beach volleyball player as she was growing up. Recently, unknown to either of her parents, she got interested in surfing and was learning how from one of the college boys she knew.

As she walked, she could feel the soft cool sand beneath her feet, and she sighed deeply. _It isn’t fair,_ she thought as her mind drifted back to two days before when her father had told her that she would have to leave. How could her parents do this to her? She was so angry with her mother. _Why couldn’t she just let me stay with Dad where I’m happy? Why did she have to pursue this with a custody battle? Couldn’t she see that I love being where I am?_

Contrary to the resentment she harbored, she really did love her mother. It tore her in pieces when she thought about how she would have to get used to making new friends, and attending a new school. All the friends she had, she had met when she was a child. Being somewhat shy, she feared becoming an outsider in this strange new place.

She knew that school would probably be one of the hardest adjustments she would have to contend with. Along with that was the fact that she would not be able to walk to the beach whenever she wanted. After tomorrow, she would have to depend on her mother to take her there. Needless to say, Sharon fully understood the idea of what a bird must have felt like being trapped in the confines of a cage.

She plopped down on the sand, her summer dress blowing in the breeze and her tears falling freely. After a few minutes passed, she looked down at her watch. She had told her father that she would be home by ten. Her nightly walks on the beach were acceptable simply because she had always promised him that she would not to go too far.

It was now nine, and so she had an hour to reflect on the feelings she had about leaving the place she most loved. She looked out at the water and could see the starlight reflecting over the still ocean. To her it was the most beautiful sight she could imagine, but the sadness she felt, seemed to override everything else.

At that moment, she glanced up to see a man approaching where she was sitting. Obviously he did not see her, because he wordlessly passed her by and continued slowly walking along the beach. After several moments, he stopped when he was about three feet away from where she was sitting. She stood up quietly and started putting her sandals back on her feet.

As she watched him, she reached the conclusion that he was a stranger to the area simply because he was not dressed in the usual style of the locals. Instead of being dressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and had on a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. She continued to watch as he dug in his pocket and pulled something out.

The full moon was casting eerie shadows about, but Sharon’s eyes widened in shock when she soon could see that his silhouette was being illuminated by some strange blue light. Inching her way closer, she saw where the nimbus of light had originated. It was emitting from the object that was now resting in his hand.

She gasped as she started to back away. She had never seen this kind of illusion in her life, and she was not certain as to how this man would react if he caught her watching him as intensely as she was.

She was about to find out.

The man abruptly turned around, the object still glowing in his hand. From where she was standing, Sharon could see his face completely illuminated by the light. He was handsome and appeared to be about the same age as her father with dark hair and blue eyes.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she covered her mouth with one hand. She was about to turn and run away from him when his soft voice could suddenly be heard over the gentle hum of the object.

“Don’t be afraid,” he offered. “I mean you no harm.” As he made eye contact with her, the light disappeared.

As it did, her gaze came to rest on the object, which in its natural state looked very much like pinball, similar to the ones they had in the machines at the local cinema. She watched him return the object to his pocket and started to take several steps towards her, his gaze seeking hers.

Fearfully, Sharon backed away hoping to put as much distance between them as she was able. In her haste to get away, she stumbled up against a group of rocks and rammed her ankle against one of them. Feeling the painful tears catching in her eyes, she stumbled over the rock and fell backwards.

She did not fully realize that she had been injured until she tried to stand up. The moment she tried to put her weight on her left foot, a bolt of pain shot up her leg, and a soft moan escaped from between her lips and she plopped back down on the sand. Raising her head, she could see him coming closer. Frantically, she tried to back further away, but when she felt his hand coming to rest on her shoulder, she swallowed as her eyes clamped shut.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

Sharon opened her eyes to see him leaning over her and regarding her with sympathy and compassion. “I…” she tried to speak, but realized that she could not. He looked rather like she felt, sad and isolated and she found herself looking away.

As the pain in her ankle began to intensify, she tried to grab hold of the affected area. This proved a mistake and she could feel the tears stinging her eyes. “Please…Mister….” She tried to speak, but her voice trailed off as she wiped her free hand over her face and looked up at him as though she was an animal trapped in a corner.

“It’s alright, I won’t hurt you,” he whispered.

“Please help me, I-I n-need a doctor, my foot, I-I think it’s broken.” As these words emerged, she lowered her head as she felt her energy starting to give out. When his face became a blur, she closed her eyes, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. “Oh God, it hurts.”

The stranger sat down in the sand next to her and she felt one of his arms wrapping around her shoulder in an effort to hold her up as well as to calm her. When she felt her head coming to rest against his chest, she began to cry, the sounds emerging in hiccup like sobs.

“Shhh,” he whispered. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help,” he said. With his free hand he groped in his pocket and removed the same mysterious object she had seen earlier.

“W-what are you going to do?” she asked as she felt him moving her until she was once again lying on the sand. He moved his hand from her shoulder until it came to rest on the injury. She flinched in pain the second his hand touched her foot.

“It’s broken,” he confirmed after a few seconds.

Sharon continued to cry hysterically as the pain overwhelmed her. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpered as she once again clamped her eyes shut.

“You’re not going to die, now just try and calm yourself, I must concentrate,” he spoke softly, the round object still in his hand.

Despite herself, Sharon immediately fell silent as he began to concentrate on the object, this time the band of blue light was centering on her ankle. Just before the light began to fade, she could feel the pain leaving the area around the injury. Once the light was gone, she was staring at him in wonder.

He returned the object to his pocket, but remained on his knees next to where she was lying. “You’re okay now,” he said softly.

She nodded, unable to utter a sound. After a few seconds, she managed to sit up. It must have been too quickly, because she immediately felt dizzy and her hand came to rest against her forehead, and she closed her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“I think I sat up too quickly,” she managed as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Are you going to be able to make it home without any problems?”

“I think so, I live just beyond those dunes over there,” she answered, making another attempt to stand. Seconds later, she fell back down onto the sand. “Maybe I should sit here a little while longer,” she mused as she scooped up a handful of sand and allowed it to trickle between her fingers.

“Try to take it easy; your body’s still weak from the injury,” he said.

“Yeah,” she mumbled as the sand finished falling from between her fingers. She knew that she had questions she wanted to ask him, but did not know where to start. Finally she could only squeak out three words. “Who are you?”

“A friend,” was all he said.

“But I don’t understand,” she whispered.

Instead of responding, he placed a gentle hand under her elbow and helped her to stand up.

Once she was on her feet and able to stand without his assistance, she looked up at him. When he said nothing further, she turned and ran away as quickly as she could. The answer to her question was nothing like she expected, but after seeing what she had seen him do, she was completely at a loss.

As she glanced back towards the area where she had seen him, she noticed that he was no longer following her. She began to shake her head rapidly as she stared back at the water with disbelief written all over her face.  
  
---  
  
Paul Forrester was left standing alone and watched as the young girl ran away from him. He knew that she had been frightened by what she had seen him do, and he really had no idea that she had been sitting behind him all this time. Ever since he had returned to take care of his son, he periodically felt homesick. Scott had argued that it was normal and that he should not worry about it. However, it was still something that was difficult for him to contend with. He knew that the easiest thing in the world would have been if he had stayed home, but today he viewed that as a copout.

On this night, he had simply used the sphere to connect to his home. He did this periodically, but a stranger had never before seen him do it. Now in the wake of having frightened the young girl, he felt rather silly. _I should have been more careful,_ he thought to himself all the while wondering if this girl would tell someone about what she had seen.

Paul sighed deeply. The moment he had touched the girl’s shoulder, he could sense her emotions and knew that she was also terribly unhappy about something. What specifically the cause of her sadness was, he could not ascertain, but he wondered if what had happened would somehow add to the difficulties that she apparently was facing.

He knew that she could never have confided in him as he was as much a stranger to her as she was to him. Talking over one’s problems usually was not done with strangers. Of course, this did not stop him from feeling at fault for the incident. He knew deep down inside that he could never have allowed her to suffer if it was within his power to help.

He walked back down the beach, and when he reached the parking lot, he made his way over to his car. It was now very late, but he knew that because of all this, he and Scott would have to leave. He had received a note earlier that evening that Scott was out with some of the guys from his school and would probably be home a little bit later. It was Friday night and Paul understood that teenagers liked to stay out late on weekends.

_Let him enjoy the time out with his friends,_ Paul thought sadly. Once Scott returned home, the two of them would be putting yet another place behind them. He knew that his son was fond of the area and would be unhappy about leaving, but now all he could do was have their belongings packed when his son had returned.

His mind drifted back to the encounter with the girl. He could sense that she had been frightened and he had a strange feeling that he had a lot more in common with her than just being unhappy.

That did not seem to matter anyway, he concluded as he started the car and drove away from the beach. Fifteen minutes later, he pulled the car into a parking area around the building where he and Scott were living. Once the car was parked, he got out and rushed towards the front door.

Inside the apartment, he began to pack their belongings as quickly as he could.

Ten minutes later, Scott’s key was heard jingling in the lock, and the door opened. The teenager came inside, his usual cheerful look fading away when he noticed his father’s activities in the living room.

“What’s going on?” he asked noticing the two duffle bags resting against the wall next to the door. “Did you see Fox in town or something?”

It was no secret, Scott always got a bit nervous when he saw his father packing their belongings. The teenager knew that it either meant impending danger or trouble, and his face paled, but he sat down on the arm of the sofa and looked at his father intently.

Hearing Fox’s name made Paul shudder. “No,” he eventually responded, his guilt growing when he saw the unhappy look crossing his son’s face. “We have to leave immediately. Something’s happened.”

“What?” Scott asked. “You look sort of freaked out about something.”

“I had to use the sphere this evening at the beach. It was my fault, Scott,” Paul began.

“Just tell me what happened, Dad,” Scott said. He could tell instinctively that his father was upset, and somehow knew that he would be coaxing the story out of him.

“A young girl saw me use the sphere to connect to my home…” his voice trailed.

“…And it scared her,” Scott finished.

Paul nodded, “yes. She was sitting on the sand not far from where I was and when I turned around and saw her, she got up and tried to run away. She thought I was going to hurt her, and when she stood up quickly, she ended up tripping over a large rock and breaking her ankle.”

“But, I thought you could sense whenever someone was present,” Scott said. “Why couldn’t you sense her?”

Paul shrugged his shoulders, “normally I can, but tonight, I was a bit preoccupied.”

“So, in other words, you exposed yourself to a complete stranger?” Scott asked.

When Paul nodded weakly, the teenager could see the sadness in his father’s eyes. He could not understand it, but Instead of getting angry, his voice softened considerably. “You’re just feeling cut off again, aren’t you? That’s why you used the sphere in the first place, isn’t it?” Scott rested his hand on his father’s shoulder. Sometimes the teenager really felt badly about this, but the worst thing was that he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

“Yes, I think that’s how I’ve been feeling. I don’t want you to think that I’d rather be up there than down here with you, I just miss it a lot more than I thought I would.”

“Maybe you’re also a little bit depressed because Mom’s not here with us,” Scott smiled reassuringly at his father. “When we find her, then you’ll feel much better, I’m sure.”

Paul smiled weakly.

“Besides,” Scott continued, “that’s perfectly understandable that you feel a little homesick. I mean; sometimes I miss Seattle and my friends there. Being with you is really cool, but I still miss my old life too. It’s normal.” Scott grinned sheepishly, but his smile disappeared when he saw that his father’s sad expression had not changed. “I don’t think I would trade you for anything in the world, but I wish I could make you happy here.”

“You do make me happy, Scott. I just wonder if me being here is the best thing for you,” Paul said sadly. “I know it’s not easy for you having to constantly change homes and schools.”

“Dad, would you please stop worrying about it? You always say we are a team and that we are who we are. Maybe one day Fox and the FSA will accept that and leave us alone.”

“I know that you weren’t always happy,” Paul objected.

“You’re right, before we went to Spirit Lake to find Mom, I did blame you. But, I don’t anymore,” Scott said. Seconds passed and his serious expression melted away into characteristically lopsided grin. “Do you know what? Whenever we have these kinds of conversations, I think our roles have changed.”

“I’m sorry.” Paul whispered.

Scott hugged his father reassuringly. He could feel the sadness coming from his usually strong father, and this bothered him. The teenager was not used to being able to sense emotions like Paul could, but the more time he spent with his alien father, the more he was able to do. He smiled weakly when their hug ended. “Maybe I should stay home more often and spend time with you instead of taking off with the guys from school.”

In response to this, Paul sighed, but grabbed his duffel bag, and reached for the camera bag.

He was still preoccupied with thoughts of the girl he had helped at the beach. If only she had not run away, then he would have tried to talk to her.

Trying to dismiss this, he looked over at his son, and when he got an encouraging grin from him, he followed him outside. Once Paul had dropped the key and the rent money inside the landlord’s mailbox, he helped Scott load their bags in the trunk of the car.

Once everything had been locked in the trunk, they got in the car and Paul drove out of the parking area towards the interstate highway.

A few miles down the road, Scott opened the map and began to study it with the light from the moon shining in through the front window. “Where are we going?” he finally asked.

Paul sighed, “I don’t know, just pick a place.”

Scott nodded as he pointed down to a spot on the map. “How about here? It’s a town called Franklin. It looks big enough that you could get a decent job and small enough where we don’t have to worry about what happened on the beach.”

Paul nodded, “all right, but I guess since it’s so late, we should probably find a rest area and try and get some sleep. We probably won’t be able to find any place to stay tonight anyway.”

“Good idea,” Scott said with a yawn.

Paul pulled the car into the next rest area and he parked it as Scott stretched out and tried to get comfortable. After several minutes the teenager fell asleep, but Paul was still lost in thought. His gaze drifted to the stars, but after an hour had passed, he eventually slept.  
  
---  
  
Sharon had made it to her father’s beach house about five minutes before ten. “Daddy?” she called out half expecting to hear an answer. When she did not, she figured that her father had gone out as well and would probably not be home until later.

When she heard no sounds in the house and found the place dark, she made her way into the living room. Hesitantly, she turned on the lamp on one of the side tables and sat down on the sofa.

There, she found a note lying on the table. She picked it up and began to read. The note indicated that her father would probably not come home for another hour or so.

It was no secret; he had met another woman, Penny Higgins, and had started dating her as soon as the divorce became final earlier that year. Although she liked Penny, she felt somewhat torn whenever she thought about her parents. There was no denying that she was more like her free-spirited father, and shared very little in common with her high-strung mother. Sharon felt slightly intimidated when it came to dealing with her mother.

She sighed deeply, looked up through the window, and could see the stars highlighting the night sky. She turned off the lamp and walked over to the window and stood in front of it, her gaze completely centered on the stars. _Who was that man I saw on the beach?_ She kept asking herself, _and why did I feel so calm when he told me to calm down? Did I really break my ankle and did he really heal it? What was that blue light I saw? He had told me that he was a friend, and if I believed him, then why did I run away? I just don’t understand._

No matter how much she tried to rationalize this, she could not. _Even if I tried to talk it over with Dad, he’d tell me I’m making it all up,_ she thought sadly. _I know that he’s a free spirit, but he’s also a realist._

Talking to her mother was also out of the question. _If I told her, she would accuse me or Dad of trying to manipulate what was decided in court. Then she’d probably turn around and find me one of her nutty therapist friends to talk to._ Sharon sighed deeply, her thoughts shifting to Penny.

Throughout the entire battle between her parents, she had realized that she felt most comfortable talking to Penny about how she felt. She wished it was as easy to talk to her parents as it was to talk to her father’s girlfriend. The young woman was more like an older sister for Sharon than a possible future stepmother.

Although her mother’s lawyer had tried to get Sharon to talk openly with some specialist or another about her feelings, the teenager refused. In the end, Sharon was left feeling very much like a pawn in her parents’ version of chess.

As her thoughts shifted back to Penny, she wondered what the woman would think if she mentioned what had happened that night. _Maybe the best thing for me to do is just write about it in my diary and leave it alone,_ she eventually concluded.

She turned the light on once again, grabbed a magazine off the table, and began to flip through it. In her entire life, she had never felt as confused and alone as she did at that moment. _Maybe moving to Franklin won’t be so bad,_ she thought. No matter how hard she tried to persuade herself that everything would be fine, she still had a feeling of impending doom. Somehow she knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

Finally, she stretched out on the sofa, turned off the light once again, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it was morning, and she could see the sun shining through the window. She glanced over to see her father rushing around the room getting the rest of her belongings together.

“You’d better get up, Sharon, your mother’s going to be here in about an hour to pick you up,” Steven Peters said. “She just called and said she was on her way.”

She nodded numbly and pushed the blanket aside. Apparently, when he had come home the night before, her father had covered her with it. “Okay, Daddy.” She stood up, and quietly walked into her old room and grabbed something to wear for the trip to her mother’s apartment. Most of her favorite clothes were still left hanging in the closet because her mother had insisted that she would have no use for them in Franklin. She grabbed her favorite cotton beige dress out of the closet and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

Once she had had finished, she got dressed and grabbed the brush off the sink to run it through her sun-streaked blonde hair. _I hope living in Franklin won’t fade my tan,_ she thought remembering how pale she had looked one summer when she had spent most of July in the hospital. She looked in the mirror and could see the freckles across the bridge of her nose. She smiled weakly remembering three weeks before when school had started and she and her friends had started their freshman year at the high school. It had been so great, and now that she was used to being at a school, she was being forced to change schools. She felt absolutely miserable.

She sighed deeply as she started reflecting on the summer that had passed. She had met a boy at the beach, who was a surfer, and he had been teaching her how to surf. Because she had spent practically the entire vacation at the beach, she had gotten the best tan that she could ever remember having.

“Hey, are you swimming in there?” Sharon sighed deeply when she heard a knock on the door and her father’s impatient voice. He probably needed to get in here to shave she thought as she laid the brush on the sink.

“I’m almost done, Daddy,” she called out as she grabbed the dress she had worn the night before and stuffed it into the hamper, which was situated next to the toilet.

Finally, she opened the door, came out, and her father went in. She walked out into the living room to see her suitcases packed, and sitting in the middle of the room. She turned around and cracked a small smile when she saw her father’s girlfriend sitting comfortably on the sofa.

“Hey Sharon,” the woman smiled warmly.

“Hi, Penny,” the teenager said weakly.

“Are you excited about going to Franklin, today?” Penny asked half expecting what the answer was going to be.

“Not really,” Sharon said as she began to fiddle with a small piece of paper she had grabbed up off the coffee table. The teenager felt somewhat guilty for liking Penny as much as she did, but the woman was so nice and easy going. For that reason alone, Sharon figured that her father was better off with Penny than with her uptight mother.

She sighed, maybe it had something to do with her mother’s job that made her that way, but ever since Brenda Peters had become a licensed psychologist, she had suddenly taken everything that anyone said and tried to analyze it. The worst thing about moving in with her mother though was the fact that Brenda would probably insist on treating her like an eight-year-old child, rather than a 14-year-old girl.

This was the reason Sharon had refrained from mentioning that she had been learning to surf. She figured that her mother would have considered the sport too dangerous and would have turned around and given her father a verbal lashing.

Penny’s voice soon broke into her contemplations, “a penny for your thoughts?”

Sharon laughed weakly, “you always say that to make me laugh, don’t you?”

“Because it obviously works,” Penny said her green eyes twinkling.

“Can I ask you something?” Sharon asked.

“Sure.”

“Do you believe all those stories about UFOs and aliens and stuff?” Sharon asked.

“Nope, sorry,” Penny shook her head. “Where did all that come from? I’ve never heard you mention anything about such things before.”

“I know, I just had this weird dream about it last night,” Sharon lied. That was the response that she half expected from Penny, and so she decided to simply drop it.

Penny, on the other hand, was not keen on entirely dropping it. She could tell that her boyfriend’s daughter was unhappy. “Is there anything you want to talk about, Sharon?”

Before the teenager could answer, Penny inwardly groaned when the sound of a car horn could be heard outside. When she raised her head and looked out the window, she could see Brenda’s blue BMW parked in the driveway.

“No, it’s no big deal,” Sharon said as she stood up. She turned around and looked at Penny, her sadness literally filling the room. “Checkmate,” she whispered under her breath as she went over and picked up the smaller of the two suitcases.

Penny silently took note of the teenager’s musings, but said nothing. Instead she watched as her boyfriend came out of the bathroom and spoke. “Your mother’s here, Sharon.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sharon said as her eyes met those of her father. “Daddy, will you help me with my stuff?” She asked trying to sound much braver than she felt.

“Of course, Sweetheart,” Steven said as he picked up the second suitcase and followed her to the door. Once she opened the door and saw her mother, she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Her mother was, as usual, dressed impeccably. Today, she wore in an off white suit and a string of pearls around her neck. Suddenly, Sharon felt underdressed in her favorite dress while in the presence of her elegant mother. Her hands ran down over the cotton dress she wore and she sighed deeply.

Once Steven had greeted his ex-wife, and had put the bags in the trunk of the car, Sharon spoke, “Mom, I have to go to the bathroom before we leave, okay?”

Brenda nodded, and both Steven and Sharon returned inside the house.

After using the bathroom, she rejoined Penny and Steven in the living room. “Daddy, I wish I could stay here,” she whispered, as she tried to wipe the tears out from beneath her eyes.

“I know, Sweetheart. I wish you could too,” Steven said as he wrapped his arms around his daughter. “You’re going to be okay. Besides that, I promise to write when I can and you’ll be back here for Thanksgiving. That’s only two months away.”

“I know,” she turned to Penny. “You’ll write too?”

Penny nodded and hugged her boyfriend’s daughter. “I’ll send you something with your dad’s letters every chance I get.” She handed Sharon a cloth handkerchief and smiled reassuringly.

Sharon wiped her eyes with the cloth. But, as she did, a silver necklace fell to the ground. It had been carefully folded inside the cloth, and she bent down to pick it up. It was the silver starfish necklace that Penny bought when she and Steven were in Mexico. “I remember how much you liked it,” Penny offered, smiling.

“Thank you,” Sharon said as she put the necklace on and wiped her eyes as her mother began to honk the horn impatiently. “I guess I have to go. I love you both.”

Steven nodded as his only child walked to the front door, opened it, and stepped outside closing the door behind her. Watching her leave, Steven felt the tears stinging under his eyes. Penny wrapped her arms around him comfortingly.

“What took you so long?” Brenda wanted to know once Sharon came outside and had gotten into the car.

“I just wanted to say good-bye, that’s all,” Sharon whispered; her hand was holding onto the necklace that Penny had given to her.

When she saw her mother frowning, she said nothing further. Instead, she buckled the seat belt and sank back as far as she could against the seat. She was grateful when Brenda’s attention diverted back onto the road. Sighing deeply, she could feel the tears finally escaping from beneath her eyes.

She grabbed the handkerchief from the pocket of her dress and wiped it haphazardly over her face. The necklace she was now wearing reminded her not only of her father and Penny, but also of the mysterious man she had met the night before on the beach.  
  
---  
  
George Fox was sitting in his office in Washington. It was Saturday morning and it had been over a month since their last lead on the location of the alien or the boy. Seconds passed, and his assistant Ben Wylie, entered the office. “Good morning, sir,” he said as he placed a cup of coffee on his boss’ desk.

Fox casually picked up the cup and took a long sip. Both men had spent most weekends working, and so it was perfectly natural for them to be at the office on a Saturday.

“Sir, a fax just came in from a police department out in San Diego. Apparently, someone had seen blue lights last night on the beach around the cove.” Wylie handed his boss a thin piece of paper.

Fox sat his cup on the desk and began to read the writing on the page. After several moments, he raised his head. “Did someone enter any names into the computer?”

“No, there were no names for him to go on,” Wylie said. “The witness apparently contacted the police and they entered ‘blue lights’ at the station. They sent the fax last night after they hit the red flag and I picked it up just now when I came in.”

“Did they happen to send a name of a contact person?” Fox asked.

“No sir, but, the police have the name and will give it to us when we get out there. The witness claimed to have seen a teenaged girl talking to a middle-aged man last night. When they saw the light, the girl got spooked, and ran away. Soon after that, the guy left and that was it. I booked us a flight to San Diego for this afternoon. The police sent us a phone number for their precinct and we can call them when we get in.” Wylie pulled a reservation number from the folder he carried.

“Did they give you the girl’s name?” Fox asked.

“No, but they said that the witness knew the girl. Apparently, his son was giving her surfing lessons during the summer, and he had gone away to college three weeks ago.” Wylie said. “The police didn’t know her name, but I would bet that it wouldn’t be hard to find since they said that her parents live in a beach house along the coastline.”

“This is probably our only lead. I guess we’d better get packing and get to the airport.” George Fox said as his assistant was about to leave the office. “I’ll meet you here in an hour, Wylie.” Once the other man nodded, Fox turned to face the map, which was hanging on the wall. “Well, Forrester, it looks like we’ll meet up again very soon.” He picked up the cup of coffee and took another sip.  
  
---  
  
Saturday morning brought Paul and Scott into the small town of Franklin. After spending the night in their car, Paul had stopped off at a convenience store to pick up a newspaper and a map of the town. Back outside, they began searching through the classifieds in search of an apartment. They normally looked at the furnished apartments first and if they found none, they would rent a few nights at an inexpensive motel.

Finding a two bedroom furnished apartment in the paper proved a very fortuitous thing. After a brief meeting with the landlord, they were given the general, no parties, no pets spiel, signed the paperwork and were presented with a key. They had a home, but neither of them knew for how long. After they got their belongings moved in, they decided to go and do some grocery shopping.

By the time they had returned to the apartment, Paul was starting to feel like his old self again. He decided that instead of immediately going out and looking for a job, he would take a couple of days to recuperate and then check around on Monday to see if there were any jobs available for photographers. Scott decided that it would be wise to not to press the issue with him. Instead the teenager suggested that they go to the planetarium and check out the exhibits. He had found an advertisement for it while they were at the store, and Paul agreed that it would be an ideal way to pass the time.

Back at their apartment, they worked together to put the food away. Once that was done, Paul decided to prepare some lunch while Scott unpacked some of their belongings. A little bit later, the teenager rejoined his father in the kitchen.

After eating much of the meal in silence, they finished and decided to leave immediately for the exhibit. Paul wanted to make sure they got there early enough so they would be able to find a parking space as well as get the tickets for the afternoon showing. This meant that the clean up would have to wait until after they returned.

Twenty minutes later, Paul drove them to the planetarium and while the alien had gone to get the tickets, Scott went over to the bulletin board to see what other activities were happening around town. After waiting and watching the people around him for some time, he turned around, and noticed a girl in a beige sun-dress standing outside reading the planetarium schedule. Instead of staying where he was, he casually started to walk in her direction. After several moments, he reached where she was standing. “Hi.”

“Hello,” she said as she offered him a weak smile.

“Are you here to see the exhibit too?” Scott asked.

“No, I’m just waiting for my mother to come back. She went to that convenience store over there to buy a pack of gum,” the girl said, her unhappy eyes saying far more than her words ever could.

“Do you go to school here?” Scott asked.

“I start on Monday,” she answered, getting her first look at the boy who was standing beside her.

“No kidding, so do I,” he said, and paused before introducing himself, “I’m Scott Hayden.”

“Sharon Peters,” she paused, “you’re really new here too?”

“Yeah, my dad and I just got into town this morning,” Scott said. “We just drove up from San Diego.”

“Me too,” Sharon said sadly. “My mother wanted to move back and after my parents divorced, she did and brought me with her.”

“You must have really liked it there, because you look kind of sad now,” he offered.

She nodded, “I loved it. I used to spend a lot of time at the beach. My dad and his girlfriend have a house up the coast, and I was always near the water.”

Scott smiled as he noticed her tanned arms. “I guess so; you make me look like a sheet.” He held up his arm and pulled the sleeve of his jacket up so she could see his arm.

She laughed, but suddenly stopped. Scott looked up when her laughter died and saw an elegantly dressed woman coming out of the store.

Sharon sighed deeply. “I got to go, I’m sorry, my mother’s waiting. Maybe I’ll see you in school on Monday. You’ll be going to Franklin High School, right?”

Scott nodded, “if it’s the only school in the area, then yeah, that’s where I’ll be going.”

“See you later then,” Sharon said as she slowly walked towards a blue BMW and climbed in the front seat.

Scott was still standing there as he watched the car drive away. _Sharon looked positively miserable,_ he thought to himself. When he turned around, he saw his father waiting where he had been standing, and he went back over to him.

“Where were you?” Paul asked.

“I just saw this girl outside, and went over to talk to her. I wanted to find out about what the school’s going to be like, but she couldn’t tell me,” Scott answered, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why’s that?” Paul asked. “Doesn’t she go to school here?”

“Not yet, she’s new in town too, in fact she also arrived today,” Scott answered. The teenager changed the subject when he saw about 20 people walking down a long hallway, which connected the lobby area to the large exhibition room. “Did you get the tickets?”

“Yes, and we’d better get inside, the show’s going to start in a few minutes,” Paul said showing his son the tickets.

“Great, let’s go. What's the title of the exhibition anyway? I remember seeing the listing at the grocery store, but the titles were kind of hard to read,” Scott said.

Paul looked down at the tickets in his hand. “This one is called _‘The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence’_.”

Scott burst out laughing and continued until tears started streaming down his cheeks. “You’re kidding,” he said as he looked over his father’s shoulder to see if that was the real title or if Paul was making another attempt at being funny. Sure enough, that was what the title read.  
Paul looked at his son innocently, arched his eyebrows and smiled. Scott started laughing again, as they made their way into the exhibition room.  
  
---  
  
Outside in the car, Sharon met her mother.

“Where’d you go?” Brenda asked.

“I just went to see what they had showing at the planetarium,” Sharon said as she got in the car. She refrained from mentioning her brief meeting with Scott. Instead, she put on her seatbelt and her mother started the car.

“I didn’t know you were interested in Astronomy,” she said as she drove the car out of the area. When Sharon offered no response, she continued speaking, “I hope you will like it here. I grew up in Franklin, and missed it dreadfully after your father and I got married.”

Sharon shrugged her shoulders as she silently stared outside the car window. Franklin was not a bad town, it was mountainous and had a warm, dry climate, but there was no water in the vicinity, not even a lake. Try as she might, the teenager could not think of one positive thing to say about the place. All she could do was reflect on how her mother was ignoring her love of the ocean.

_It’d break her heart if she knew that I won’t be happy here,_ she thought sadly as a tear slid down her cheek. _I could never be so selfish_.

After a few minutes passed, her mother finally broke the silence. “You’re being awfully quiet today. Is there something you want to talk about?”

“No, not really,” Sharon offered as her thoughts began to drift. _Why has my life become so complicated?_ If she had been at home, then she could have gone to the beach and met Jerry and did some surfing. _I feel like a fish out of water here._

As her mother pulled into the parking garage for her apartment building, Sharon waited for her to cut the motor, got out of the car, and followed Brenda inside. Upstairs in the apartment, Sharon walked into her new home for the very first time. _No wonder she kept this place a secret during the custody battle,_ the teenager thought with distaste.

The apartment itself was large and roomy, with a big living room that greeted her upon coming inside. Sharon watched her mother walk across the white carpeted floor with ease, but Sharon checked the bottom of her sandals before taking baby steps into the room. Aside from the carpet, several of the wooden furnishings were also white. The teenager had to will herself to not turn around and walk back outside. In direct contrast to the other furniture, the sofa was black and made of soft leather. On the front wall hung three art prints depicting abstracts. On the corner tables, Brenda had placed red, black, and white figurines. Everything was decorated using modern abstract art. That was her mother’s taste and that only emphasized that Sharon and her mother were complete opposites.

She wrinkled her nose all the while wondering if she would ever feel at home in this place. Everything looked pristine and perfect, and there were no seashells or creative looking decorations anywhere. She immediately missed the warm comfortable atmosphere of her father’s beach house. The wooden floors had taken tons of her abuse; one day she would come home caked with sand, on another she would walk through the house slopping water everywhere from her swim in the ocean.

This entire apartment was ultra modern, and everywhere she looked; the only colors she saw were white, black and small amounts of red. It looked like it was taken out of a magazine picture; which in Sharon’s opinion were absolutely hideous. _Will I ever get used to living here?_ She asked herself for the second time.

Finally when she couldn't take much more of this awful room, she looked up at her mother, trying to keep a cheerful face. “Mom, I need to put this stuff away, where’s my room?”

“Down the hall, the last door on the right side,” Brenda said completely oblivious of her daughter’s discomfort.

Sharon walked down the hall and when she entered the room, she sighed deeply. Apparently, her mother had the same decorator in her room that she had for the rest of the apartment. Everything was pink, or white, and the bedspread was pink and covered with lace. The curtains, which hung in the window, were frilly and little girlish. _It looks like a wedding cake exploded in here,_ she thought with a frown.

She went over to the curtains and drew them aside. She could see outside into a park where people were walking and having picnics. The view she liked, but the room was awful. The wooden furniture was all painted white, and the carpet was fuzzy and white like what was in the living room. 

_This apartment looks like a waiting room for a doctor’s practice,_ Sharon thought sighing deeply as her mother entered the room. “Do you like it? I remember pink was always your favorite color.”

Sharon sighed deeply, pink had been her favorite color, but that was seven years ago. Today, she preferred beige, earth tones, and blue. “I guess it’ll be okay, Mom,” she lied when she saw her mother’s hopeful face. “Can I get some posters and decorate it like I want to?”

“Yes, I thought we could do that today. The art museum sells prints that we could buy to hang in here. There's also store not far from here that sells abstract art, and we could go by there as well.”

“I don’t really like abstract art. Couldn’t I get something like a beach scene or something that better expresses me?” Sharon asked, all the while hoping that her honesty would not upset her mother.

“You’re not happy, are you?” Brenda asked.

“I just got here; give me a little more time, okay?” Sharon responded diplomatically.

“OK,” Brenda looked disappointed, but then after a few seconds passed, her frown broke into a broad smile. “I have an idea then, why don’t we go to the mall later and see what we can find at the poster shop? They have a new store there that sells nothing but posters and decorations for walls. I’m sure we can find something there to your liking.”

“That’d be great.” Sharon’s frown broke into a small smile. “I’ve been kind of curious about what this town has to offer as far as shopping and entertainment goes. I’d also like to go by the school and see what it looks like before I start there on Monday.”

“Okay, then afterwards we can go out and have something for dinner,” Brenda suggested.

Sharon nodded as her mother left her to unpack. She turned off the air conditioner in her room, opened the window, and closed the door. The fresh breeze that blew through the room left it fresh and more comfortable. She went over and sat down at the desk and pulled out her diary. It had been a number of days since she had the chance to write down her thoughts and feelings. She decided that since she could not stop thinking about the man she had seen the night before; she would write about what she could remember about him.

She sighed deeply all the while wishing she could talk to someone about what she had seen the man do. She could not let go of the notion that maybe she had had an encounter with someone from another world. _It seems rather far fetched to believe otherwise since there is no one on earth who could heal a broken ankle with blue light,_ she thought. In the back of her mind, she felt rather special because he had exposed himself when he helped her. _Why would someone like him decide to help me?_ She asked herself. _There were so many things I wanted to ask him, and now it’s too late and I’ll never see him again._ As her thoughts continued to drift, the one thing that she could not get out of her mind was how sad he looked. _It was as though he understood exactly how I was feeling, even if he did not even realize it._

_All the same, why would an alien from space stop to help a fourteen-year-old girl? Maybe it didn’t happen. I’ve see the moon reflecting over the water and how it can sometimes play tricks with the eyes. But, I’ve seen the ocean before at night, and this was no trick, it was real._

She glanced down at her ankle. _My ankle was broken, even he had said as much, and it had hurt so much after I slammed it into that rock._

Sharon knew beyond any doubt that her fear of him had been what prevented them from speaking at length. The whole time she had been afraid that he was going to blast her with whatever power he possessed, but when his hand had rested on her shoulder, what she felt was nothing that resembled malevolence. Instead, she had felt warmth that she could not describe.

_If I could, I’d go back in time and ask him who he really is and why he helped me. So many people in the world would have walked by without saying or doing anything, but this man didn't, he knew I was afraid, but he came and helped me anyway._

She wiped the tears from her eyes and laid down her pen after recording everything that she had been thinking. After a few moments of staring at the plain white walls of her bedroom, she picked up her pen and continued to write.

Fifteen minutes later, her mother tapped lightly on her door.

Taking a small silver key from her pocket, she locked the diary up and put it inside the drawer of her nightstand. Next, she went to close the window and open the door.

“Whew, it’s warm in here,” Brenda exclaimed as she entered the room. “Does the air conditioner not work anymore?”

“No, it works fine, I just like fresh air better,” Sharon said. “I turned it off, and opened the window. Is that okay?”

Brenda nodded hesitantly and they left together.  
  
---  
  
By Sunday afternoon, George Fox was happy. He had managed to meet with Jerry Theiss and his parents, and learned the name of the girl he had to find. Not only had the Theiss family supplied the girl’s name, they had also freely given him the address of the beach house where Sharon Peters lived with her family. Within two hours after their arrival in San Diego, the two agents arrived and knocked on the door.

Penny opened it, “yes? Can I help you?”

“My name is George Fox, this is Benjamin Wylie, and we’re with the Federal Security Agency. We’re looking for Sharon Peters. Is she here?” Fox said, pulling his identification from his pocket and showing it to the woman in the doorway. Wylie did the same.

“No, she’s not here,” Penny said, but instead of moving to one side to allow them access, she remained standing in the doorway.

“May we come in?” Fox asked.

Reluctantly, she moved aside so the two men could enter the beach house. “My name is Penny Higgins and I’m a friend of Steven Peters, Sharon’s father. Why is someone in the federal government interested in Sharon, she’s just a kid?”

“Ms. Higgins, we have reason to believe that an incident involving Sharon took place on Friday night. We’d simply like to ask her a few questions about it.” Fox responded.

“Friday night?” Penny responded. “From what I understand, Sharon went to the movies with a couple of her girlfriends and then came back here.”

“She didn’t mention anything out of the ordinary that might have happened?” Wylie asked.

“No, and as far as I know she didn’t say anything to her father either,” she said.

“You said that she isn’t here, do you know where she is or when she’ll be back?” Fox asked.

“Not for at least a few months,” Penny said. “Her mother won custody of her in court last week. Sharon left San Diego yesterday and moved in with her mother. She won’t be back here until Thanksgiving. Is there anything else I can help you with, gentlemen?”

Fox shook his head, “where is Mr. Peters?”

“He went to get some cleaning supplies for the deck and probably won’t be back for awhile. Do you want to wait? I could make some coffee or something. I also just picked up some chocolate cake at the deli?” Penny offered. In the back of her mind she was remembering an old quotation, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. She was determined to not serve up details about Sharon, but maybe she could find out why specifically they were asking questions about a fourteen-year-old girl.

“That’d be very nice, thank you,” Fox said as Penny stood up and went into the kitchen. Penny knew that she did not want to mention where Sharon was to them. After all, she was not married to Steven, and she felt that since she wasn’t a member of the family she had no right to say anything about Sharon’s whereabouts to anyone. Aside from that, she knew that if anyone was going to contact Sharon, it would have to be through Steven or Brenda, since she was their daughter.

She put several scoops of coffee into the filter and set it inside the machine. Next, she poured in some water before replacing the lid to the coffee can. She turned the machine on and returned to the living room.

“The coffee will be ready in a few minutes,” she said as she sat down across from them.

“Maybe you can help us,” Fox said as he produced two black and white photographs and handed them to her. “Have you seen these two individuals? The man is Paul Forrester and the boy is his son, Scott Hayden.”

“Are they dangerous?” Penny asked.

Fox nodded solemnly without saying a word.

“You honestly think Sharon is involved with federal fugitives?” Penny stifled her laughter.

“Ms. Higgins, this is no laughing matter. A witness said they saw a man who resembled Forrester talking to Sharon on Friday night,” Fox said. “The police contacted the agency and we came out here to investigate.”

“I'm sorry, Mr. Fox, I simply have a hard time believing that Sharon would have anything to do with a couple of fugitives. She’s a good kid, sort of introverted, but a nice girl,” Penny offered, but after a few minutes, she raised her head and looked squarely at George Fox. “She’s not in any kind of trouble, is she?”

“No, it’s like I said earlier, we just want to talk to her and see if she knows where Forrester and the kid are,” Fox answered as a loud beeping sound could be heard from the kitchen.

“Please excuse me; it’s the timer, the coffee’s ready,” Penny said as she walked into the kitchen and poured coffee into three cups, grabbed a tray and returned to the living room. She handed each of them a cup and took a plate with some cake off the tray and sat it in front of them. “What is Paul Forrester and Scott Hayden wanted for anyway? This boy couldn’t be much older than Sharon?”

“That’s classified information,” Fox answered hurriedly as he reached for the coffee cup and took a sip of the coffee.

“The charge is classified?” Penny asked.

“Yes,” Fox nodded as he replaced the cup.

“Oh, I see,” Penny said as she picked up a fork, and moved a piece of cake to an empty plate before stabbing at it. _These two are really starting to sound like they’re taking part in a conspiracy or hoax,_ she thought to herself. As her thoughts drifted, she suddenly remembered the conversation that she had had with Sharon just before her mother had arrived. _She had asked about UFO’s and aliens,_ Penny thought, _and that’s so unlike her._

“Is Sharon the sort of person who would keep things to herself?” Wylie asked.

“Well, normally she’s very quiet. Unlike a lot of people her age, she knows when she should say something and when she should keep things quiet. I would say that in most instances, she’s a very tactful girl,” Penny responded freely.

Fox nodded and sat his empty coffee cup on the tray. “Thank you for the coffee, Ms. Higgins, we won’t take anymore of your time. Please give Mr. Peters this card; it has the number to the hotel where we’re staying.” He stood up and motioned to Wylie, who picked up the pictures and slid them into a manila folder. Once Wylie stood up, both of them made their way towards the front door.

Outside they got into their rental car. “I want the telephone line tapped,” Fox said and Wylie nodded. “I need to find out where exactly Sharon Peters is. Right now she’s the only lead we’ve got. If she knows where Forrester and the kid are then I intend to find out every last detail.”

“Yes, sir,” Wylie said as he started the car, and drove in the direction of the San Diego Police Department.  
  
---  
  
Back at the house, Penny was left standing in the doorway and watching as they drove away. In her hand, she held the card and a pad of paper in her hand. A six-digit number was scrawled on it depicting the license plate number of the car. Sighing deeply, she spoke to the stillness, “Steven, I’m so glad you bought a cell phone last weekend.” She returned inside and closed the door.

Next, she grabbed a roll of quarters off the table, and went to retrieve her jacket. Sometimes she wondered if she was paranoid, but there was something inside of her that did not trust these government agents. She was going to make certain that the telephone at her boyfriend’s house would not be used for at least a week.

Once outside, she locked the door, went down the street to the pay phone and called Steven’s cell number.

When he picked up, she began speaking. “Steven, it’s me. Something really weird is going on.”

“What?” Steven asked.

“Just now, these two guys from the Federal Security Agency were at the house and they were asking me a whole bunch of questions about Sharon,” Penny said.

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said,” Penny said. “I can’t put it into words, I just don’t trust them.”

“Where are you calling from?” Steven asked.

“I walked down the street to the pay phone,” she answered. “I was afraid to call from the house. You know my brother works for the State Troopers and I guess I’m a little paranoid about stuff like privacy.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a smart move,” Steven said.

Penny quickly relayed the information she had gotten from the two men and waited for him to say something else to her. When he did not, she finished by telling him that she had written down their license plate number, and also had a card George Fox had given her.

“And they were seriously asking you questions about Sharon?” Steven asked with concern etched in his voice.

“Yes,” she said as she began to play with the metal phone cord. “What is really crazy is that I don’t think it would be safe for either of us to go to where Sharon is. At least not right now. After all, she’s having a difficult enough time dealing with the move and a new school.”

“Yeah, but if we hear from them again, I’ll have to call Brenda and let her know what’s going on,” Steven said.

“What about the phone?” Penny asked.

“We just won’t answer it for about a week or so. If something comes up, most of our friends have the cell number anyway. If they can’t reach me at the house, then it’s the next logical means of contact,” he paused. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s probably nothing.”

“I hope you’re right, but I have to admit that I’m a bit afraid for Sharon,” Penny said.

“Me too,” Steven answered honestly. “I hope she’s handling things okay. Listen, the store’s about to close, so I better get in the check out line. I’ll be home as soon as I can and then we can discuss it there.”

“Okay, see you when you get here,” Penny answered and hung up the phone. As she made her way back towards the house, she sighed deeply. She had a nagging suspicion about this whole thing, and talking to Steven did very little to reassure her.

Her mind was seriously drifting back to the conversation that she had had with Sharon and now she was starting to wonder if that had something to do with the feds paying her a visit. _Aliens and UFOs seemed to be something that the feds didn’t mind wasting our tax money on, she thought, but still something just doesn’t seem right._ Reaching the front door, she laughed nervously as she unlocked it.  
  
---  
  
Monday morning, Scott woke up and noticed that his father was already dressed and ready to go. “Good morning, Dad,” he said as he crawled out of bed.

“Good morning,” Paul answered. “We'd better hurry. I forgot to set the alarm, and now we’re both going to be late. Can you handle everything with the school? I have to drive downtown this morning and see if I can find a job. I can drop you off at school on the way, though.”

“Okay,” Scott rushed into the bathroom.

Paul went into the kitchen, pulled out some frozen waffles for breakfast, and grabbed a container of maple syrup. Once the waffles were in the toaster, he pulled some plates out of the cabinet and set them on the table. Once everything was ready, Scott came out of the bathroom with his head wrapped in a towel.

“Are they ready?” the teenager asked, taking a place at the table.

“Almost,” Paul referred to the box.

Once they were ready, Paul took his son’s plate, put two waffles on it, and sat the plate on the table. He returned to the kitchen to make himself some as well.

As soon as Paul joined him at the table, Scott raised his head. “Are you feeling any better now? I know you weren’t doing so well Friday night.”

Paul nodded, “yes, I’m fine now.”

“You’re still worried about that girl from the beach, aren’t you?” Scott asked.

“A little bit, yes. I wonder how she’s doing. I can’t imagine how she must be feeling right now. I know I frightened her, Scott, but that was never my intention,” Paul answered.

“I know, but you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“You and I both know that, but she doesn’t,” Paul said sadly.

“I know, but let’s face it Dad, you’ll probably never see her again and even if you do, you won’t recognize her,” Scott said. “Or can you remember what she looks like?”

“I remember that it was dark, and I couldn’t see her face so well, but I know that she saw mine,” Paul said. “If she saw me or my picture, then she’d know who I am.”

“You mean if Fox showed up and showed her your picture?” Scott asked.

Paul nodded.

“Do you want to leave, or do you think we’re safe here?”

“I don’t know, I guess we’re safe. Even if Fox did show up in San Diego, we’re far enough away,” Paul answered.

The two of them ate in silence and when they were finished, Scott grabbed his backpack and began stacking some of his books inside. As he was doing this, Paul swung the strap of his camera bag over his shoulder and the two of them left the small apartment together.  
  
---  
  
“Sharon Peters,” the assistant principal said, “welcome to Franklin High School. Here is your schedule, and your other information.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gordon,” she accepted the small piece of paper and put it in the folder that she had received when she entered the cramped office. Brenda was seated next to her and was waiting for the meeting to end so she could head downtown to her office.

“I suppose, that’s all Dr. Peters. Thank you for coming in with Sharon this morning.” The woman stood up and shook Brenda’s hand and then she turned and shook Sharon’s.

After leaving the office, Sharon started to make her way down the hallway. Her mother followed her until she reached the door, which would lead outside. “I’ll see you later, Honey. Have a good day. Do you want me to pick you up after school?”

“No, I’d rather walk, since it’s only a few blocks,” Sharon said.

Brenda nodded as she looked down at her watch. “Okay then, I’ll see you tonight.” She pushed open the door and just before walking outside, she turned around to face Sharon one last time. “Bye, Honey.”

“Bye, Mom,” Sharon called out before making her way back down the hallway. In one hand she carried the map of the school and in the other she had a notebook, several books, her schedule, and locker number and combination. Sighing deeply; she came to the awkward conclusion that she was now on her own.

After about ten minutes of looking, she finally found her locker, and opened it. She shoved the map, her schedule and locker information in the small folder, and stuffed everything else inside the locker.

Slamming the locker shut, she turned around when she heard a voice calling out in the distance. “Hey, I was hoping I’d run into you.”

She turned around and looked up to see that Scott was making his way towards her, his arms loaded down with books. His gaze scanned the rows of lockers and found out his was right next to hers. He managed to open it and stuff several of the books inside.

“Hi,” she said shyly, glad that he had managed to find her in this large school.

“Did you get your schedule and stuff?” he asked. “I suppose you did, since your locker’s right next to mine.”

“Yes, I think I’ve got everything,” she said as she opened her folder and pulled out her schedule. “Right now, I’ve got Geometry.”

“Let’s compare, maybe we’ve got some classes together,” Scott said as she handed her schedule to him and watched as he looked at the two slips of paper. “Yes, we have English, Health, and Chemistry together.”

“What do you have right now?” Sharon asked. It was clear that she was not happy. Usually she’d be meeting her friends at this time and going over the homework that did not get done over the weekend. Right now she was so homesick that she thought she was going to cry.

“History,” Scott answered but when she did not respond, he looked at her, but reached over and gently touched her shoulder. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“I have a lot on my mind,” she answered honestly. “This is the first time I’ve ever been to a new school where I don’t know anyone. I miss my friends.”

“Don’t worry, Sharon, everything’s going to be okay, you’ll see.” Scott offered an encouraging grin. “You’re talking to an old pro when it comes to being the new kid in town.”

“Pro?” Sharon asked as she raised her head long enough to give him a skeptical glance.

“Well, yeah. I’ve changed schools about fourteen times during the past year,” Scott said. “My dad’s a photographer, and we have to go where the action is. It sounds kind of glamorous, but it’s not, in fact, sometimes it’s really hard.” He smiled weakly. “At least it’s not boring because I get to meet lots of interesting people.”

“Is it really like that?” Sharon asked. “Interesting, I mean.”

“Yeah,” he said and grinned at her. “Come on, let’s try and navigate our way around this place together.” He pulled his own map out of the folder he carried. “But, I have to warn you, the first place I can usually navigate to in a new school is the cafeteria.”

Sharon laughed somewhat weakly, but followed him down the hall. “Have you ever had problems with it?”

“Not really. I used to, but talking to someone about it sometimes makes it not such a big deal,” Scott said. “If I’m unhappy about something, then I can always talk to my dad about it. He’s really great and doesn’t freak out about minor things.”

“You’re really lucky,” she whispered. “I sometimes wish I could talk to my dad. I used to be able to, but now, things have gotten so complicated. I don’t know anymore if I can tell him stuff. I mean; the other night…” Her voice trailed off and she sighed deeply catching herself before confiding too much about what had happened on the beach. “My dad’s in San Diego and even though he’s more like a friend than a dad, there’s still so much that I can’t tell him. We used to have so much fun together. Then he and my mom were fighting each other for me in a messy custody battle.” Sharon looked helplessly at Scott who nodded sympathetically.

“Go on,” he said softly, “it really sounds like you need a friend.”

“I guess,” she whispered. “The deal is, my parents both wanted me to live with them, but nobody bothered to ask me what I wanted. The lawyers, my parents, not even the judge bothered to ask, they just assumed they knew what was best. Moving here wasn’t the best, but the only person I could talk to was my dad’s girlfriend, Penny. She understood what all this was doing to me. Just before I left, she gave me this necklace before I left because she knew how much I love the ocean.” Sharon brushed a tear away from her cheek but not before he saw it.

“My mother’s okay, but she and I are like oil and water. We got to the apartment on Saturday after we met at the planetarium, and she had an interior designer in the place and it’s a nightmare. My room has white carpet, white furniture with baby pink decorations. I’m probably the only teenager in this crummy town who has to sleep under a baby pink bedspread with itchy lace. I sound ungrateful, but it’s not me.”

“Your mom sounds like someone who still thinks they have a small child rather than a teenager,” Scott offered honestly, as they reached the room where she would have her class.

Sharon nodded, “Yeah. I lived with my dad for about two years during their separation, and it was great. I spent every day of the summer on the beach. I could sit there at night and just watch the moon reflect off the water. My father used to call me his little mermaid, because I was always sitting outside. When I got to the apartment, the first thing I did was open the window and turn off the air conditioner.”

“You are lucky though,” Scott said gently. “My mom isn’t with us right now, and I haven’t seen her since I was three-years-old. You have both parents who want to give you everything.”

“Why isn’t your mother with you?” Sharon asked all the while considering what he had just said.

“It’s a long story, but I think that’s part of the reason we spend so much time traveling.” he said sadly. “But, I think that if you hate your room that much, maybe you should tell your mom, and not keep it to yourself.” Scott patted her shoulder tenderly.

“Maybe, but talking to my mom is not easy, she’s a professional shrink,” Sharon said, smiling weakly.

“I think I understand,” he said, but decided it best to change the subject. “Listen, after you suffer through Geometry, I’ll meet you for English. Maybe we can also sit together for lunch.”

“You still want to sit with me even after I bent your ear with my problems?” Sharon asked.

“Why is that such a surprise to you?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know,” Sharon answered before walking into the classroom and leaving him alone.  
  
---  
  
After the school day ended, Scott and Sharon walked out of their last class together. “Is your dad coming to pick you up?” Sharon was asking.

“No, our apartment is only a few blocks away,” Scott said.

“Do you walk to school too?” she asked.

“Usually if it’s within walking distance,” Scott said. “I don’t like taking the bus, they drive like maniacs. When I was living in Seattle, I would sometimes ride the bus, that way I could help my foster parents at their flower shop.”

“I thought you said you were with your dad?” she asked.

“My dad wasn’t with me at that time,” he said.

“Oh,” Sharon said, “I’m sorry.”

“It was a while ago, I don’t worry about it anymore,” Scott answered. “Listen, I have an idea. I saw this small take out restaurant on the way to the school this morning, why don’t we stop there and get a cola or something on our way home? I mean you’re going back towards the center of town, right?”

“Yes, my mother’s apartment is right across the street from the park,” Sharon answered. It was clear that she was not yet ready to call the apartment hers. As they walked through the courtyard of the school and made their way across the parking lot, Sharon smiled weakly. She was relieved that he had made this suggestion because the thought of going back to her mother’s empty apartment did not appeal to her at all.

“It’s really a great day, isn’t it? Why don’t we go to the park after we get the drinks? I can’t imagine spending an afternoon like this inside a restaurant, can you?” Scott suggested.  
“Yeah, I’d like that a lot,” she responded.

“We live a little closer to the school, I’ll show you as we walk by,” Scott said.

Sharon nodded. “Do you like it here?”

“I guess I like it all right. I tend to prefer bigger cities, I don’t know why, I guess because I grew up in one.”

“I lived my whole life in San Diego,” Sharon said. “I told you that my dad has this beach house there. But, aside from the beach, we had a movie theater only a mile away; I could walk there and meet my friends. There was also a small restaurant where we used to hang out. They had the best milkshakes in the world.”

As the two teenagers reached the end of the street, they stopped off at a small Chinese take out, went inside, bought can drinks, and left. “I know what you mean. A lot of people get the idea that big cities are large and unfriendly, but you get used to living in a certain area, and then the rest of the city seems like a new and unfamiliar territory, but that area becomes home,” Scott said. “I really like having places to go and hang out. The last night that we were in San Diego, I met with some of the guys at the video arcade. I mean we didn’t play too many games; we just drank cola and talked. It was pretty cool.” Scott stopped speaking as they walked by a group of older looking apartment buildings. He pointed to one of them. “We live over there, in apartment 24.”

Sharon nodded, all the while taking note of the number. She liked him; he was friendly and interesting. Her thoughts shifted back to the moment when they had first met. “How was the exhibition at the planetarium?” she asked.

“It was interesting,” Scott said with a smile. “It was called _‘The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence’_ or something like that. I enjoy stuff like that, but I think it has something to do with my interest in Astronomy. I’ve been contemplating studying that when I go to college.”

“Do you believe that there is life out there on other planets?” Sharon asked as they reached the park and sat down on the warm grass. She tossed her notebook on the ground and took off her shoes. “I mean most of the people I know think it’s a bunch of baloney. What do you think?”

“I don’t really know,” he lied. “I guess anything’s possible.” He stopped speaking as he felt the small round object in his pocket. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders and sipped his drink. “What do you think?”

Instead of immediately responding, Sharon’s thoughts shifted back to the events of Friday night and the man she encountered on the beach. She glanced down at her ankle, but after a second or two passed, she finally looked up at him. She did not trust herself enough to tell him about what had happened to her. In the back of her mind, she wondered what he would think if she talked about it.

She remembered the blue light she had seen, and how it made her feel. “I don't really know what I believe, Scott,” she eventually said.

As he listened to that response, he realized that she obviously had a lot on her mind, but it struck him as being a little bit odd that such a conversation would make feel that way. For some reason, he wished that his father was there. He had a strange suspicion that Paul could help her, but at the same instance, he felt uneasy about introducing the two of them. He took another sip of his drink and looked down at the notebooks that were strewn out on the grass.

After a few seconds passed, he reached over and grabbed one of the notebooks on the ground. He opened it and pulled out a sheet of paper. His history readings were listed and he groaned when he realized that he had one due for the following day. “Oh, great,” he muttered.

“What’s the matter?” Sharon asked.

“I have to go back to school,” he grumbled. “I forgot my history book and have an assignment I’m supposed to read tonight.” He tossed the notebook back down on the grass and finished his drink.

“I should probably get home anyway,” she said as she started to get to her feet. “My mother’s probably waiting for me and she’ll get mad if I come home too late.”

Scott nodded and went over to throw away his empty soda can. Once he had dropped it in the receptacle, he rejoined her and started to collect his books. Once he had them all, he offered her a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry; I must have lost my head.”

“It’s no big deal, I forget things all the time,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She finished her drink and watched as he ran back in the direction of the school.

Now alone, she glanced up at the sky. _Do you believe in Extra Terrestrials?_ He had asked. _Maybe Scott was really interested in what I think, but what if I just don’t know what I think?_ She asked herself. _Maybe I am nuts, maybe it was all a dream; maybe I imagined the whole thing._

Her hand brushed across her foot. _No, it wasn't a dream these things really did happen to me. Isn’t there anyone I could trust enough to talk about this to?_ She continued to ask herself. Here she was the daughter of a psychologist and she had absolutely no one to talk to. The ironic thing was the most burdensome thoughts were not necessarily centered on the man she had seen, but around the entire situation she was forced to live with.

Sighing deeply, she reached over and grabbed the notebook that was lying at her feet. Her Geometry teacher had given her a worksheet to do for the following day and she decided that it would be better to work on it here than to try to do it amongst the ruffles and lace of her bedroom. Figuring that the park was the ideal place for her to get started on the homework, she casually opened the notebook.

Upon seeing the unfamiliar handwriting inside, she moaned. In his haste, Scott had grabbed hers by mistake. She closed it before leaning over and retrieving her shoes. After putting them on, she stood up, and started walking in the direction of where Scott and his father lived.

_Maybe I can wait there until Scott gets home with my notebook,_ she thought. She knew that if she did not get that homework assignment back that she would not only be catching grief from her teacher, but probably from her mother as well.

She made her way across the park, and down the street towards the apartment buildings that Scott had pointed out. _He said that he and his father lived in apartment 24,_ she thought once she had reached the sidewalk, which led in the direction of the buildings. Odd numbers are downstairs, the even ones are upstairs she noticed as she grabbed the handrail and began climbing the wooden steps. As she reached the landing, she began to make her way down the corridor until she reached the door marked ‘24’.

Taking a deep breath, she rang the bell and waited.

Moments later, the door swung open and a man was standing in the doorway. Without looking up, she began to speak. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to disturb you, but Scott took my notebook by mistake and I need to get mine…” her voice trailed as she finally looked up at him.

Before she could give him the notebook, her eyes widened, and the notebook she carried slid from her fingers and landed at his feet. Instead of speaking, she swallowed as her gaze locked with a familiar pair of eyes. _It can’t be,_ she thought as she backed her way up against the railing and found herself unable to move or utter a sound.

“Are you all right?”  
´  
 _It was the voice, that same voice,_ she thought. _It’s him, the man I saw on the beach, the blue light._ Upon hearing his soft voice, the world started to spin away and without any warning, she slid to the ground.  
  
---  
  
For several moments Paul stood in the doorway, completely dumbfounded by the strange reaction of the girl. He took in her features, her mode of dress and even the way her hair hung limply down over her shoulders. Instead of contemplating this further, he kneeled down to where he could be eye level with her.

Tapping her cheek lightly, he tried to get her to come around, but when she did not, he shifted his focus until he noticed the silver sandals she wore. Of all the things he could recognize about her, he remembered the shoes she had worn when he healed the damage the rock had done to her ankle. It had to be her, the girl he had spent the last few days worrying about, but he could not understand how she came to knock at his door. _She had mentioned Scott just before passing out, maybe they had met at school,_ he thought.

He waved his hand in front of her face but received no recognition. She was still leaning up against the railing and her eyes were still closed. Instead of contemplating what he was doing and why, he carefully picked her up in his arms.

_She must be completely overwhelmed,_ he thought as he carried her inside the apartment, and laid her gently on the sofa. Returning outside, he retrieved the notebook, came inside, and closed the door.

Instead of going over and sitting down next to her, he seated himself on a nearby chair and waited for her to come around. To pass the time, he opened the notebook and looked down at the writing inside it. As she had said outside, the notebook she was carrying belonged to his son. He had recognized the handwriting straightaway.

He glanced over to see that the girl was shifting uncomfortably on the sofa, but her eyes remained closed. He knew that he did not want to frighten her the way he had done during their encounter on the beach, and now his conscience was telling him that perhaps he was the cause of her unhappiness.

Still lost in thought, he waited until her eyes slowly opened. When she did not recognize where she was, she sat up quickly and started to take in her unfamiliar surroundings. After several moments had passed, she swallowed fearfully and spoke. “W-where am I? What is this place?”

Paul took a deep breath as he looked over at her. “You’re safe now, you just fainted.”

The girl began to rub her face with her hands as she tried to focus on where the voice had originated. Eventually, she made eye contact with him and covered her mouth with one of her hands. “Oh my God, it’s you! You’re the man from the beach.” She shook her head, “but that’s impossible, that was in San Diego.”

“It’s not impossible, it’s the truth,” Paul said. “I’m the man you met on the beach.”

“Am I dreaming?” she whispered.

“No, this is very real, believe me,” he said and after several moments of silence, his next question emerged. “Are you all right now?”

She nodded slowly as she looked at him. “I thought…” her voice trailed and Paul waited for her to continue.

When she did not, he did instead. “…You thought you’d never see me again, is that it?”

She nodded as she reached out her hand and soon felt him taking hold of it. As she felt herself beginning to tremble, he released his hold, but continued speaking. “It’s all right, I know this may seem a bit overwhelming to you.”

She nodded as she lowered her head.

“Do you want to tell me your name?” he asked after her extended silence. “I’m Paul.”

“S-Sharon Peters,” she whispered, her voice still trembling.

“Are you afraid of me, Sharon Peters?” he asked intentionally running her first and last name together.

She nodded timidly still unable to speak. She grasped hold of the silver necklace she wore, all the while realizing that this moment was one that she had internally wished for. Now that she had it, she did not know what to say, or do, and this left her feeling even more confused then she already was. She swallowed the lump, which had formed in her throat and looked back over at him.

“I’d never do anything to hurt you, I think you know that,” he said softly.

_This was Scott’s father,_ Sharon could hardly believe it. She remembered the conversations that she had with Scott, and how and he had said that his father was easy to talk to. She closed her eyes for a moment trying to block out his face, but when she opened them again, he was still sitting across from her with that same look of openness that she remembered seeing on the beach.

“Y-you’re Scott’s father?” she whispered, finally putting her thoughts into words.

“Yes, I am,” he said smiling gently. He could tell that she was desperately trying to comprehend the events just after she had knocked on his door. In a way he could understand why she had reacted this way, the chances of him being the one who opened the door to her was about as likely as either of them having the winning ticket in the California Lottery.

Instead of waiting for her to respond to his words, he decided to try and find another tactic to get her to open up. “You know, I’ve been worried about you, Sharon.”

Her eyes widened, “you have?”

He nodded, “yes, I have. I know you saw me do something,” he paused not knowing what word would describe what she had seen him do. Finally, he used the one he had heard Scott often use, “weird.”

She nodded slowly as she looked down at her feet. “I-I thought you were going to be angry with me,” she whispered. “I was afraid that you were going to blast me with that light.”

Paul pulled the sphere from his pocket and held it up so that she could see it. After several moments, he returned it and shook his head. “I wasn’t angry with you, Sharon, not ever. I was simply surprised when I saw you there, but after you ran away, I became a bit worried because I could tell that you were terribly unhappy. I feared that maybe I was the cause of that.”

She shook her head, “y-you weren’t the reason,” she whispered as she lowered her head and stared down at her lap.

“I’m glad,” he said softly. “Nothing that happened that night was meant to make you unhappy, Sharon.”

“W-why did it happen?” she asked weakly.

“I don’t know,” he said. “That may seem hard for you to believe, but it’s the truth. I thought the beach was deserted.”

“It usually is,” Sharon said as she lowered her head. “I needed some time to myself and wanted to think about…stuff. After you helped me I wanted to say ‘thank you’, but then I couldn’t even find the words to speak. When I looked in your eyes and I saw something that I related to, something that was painful to see.”

“What did you see?”

“Sadness,” she whispered as she lowered her head and could feel the tears streaming from beneath her eyes.

“If you related to that, then why did you run away?” Paul asked.

“I-I don’t know, I guess because I felt the same way,” she whispered. “Maybe it was stupid, but I was afraid that I would start crying my eyes out right there on the beach. No one wants to deal with that, especially not someone who was dealing with whatever you were dealing with.”

“I’m sorry that you were left feeling hurt because of what happened,” Paul said as he looked deeply into her eyes and his next question emerged. “Are you still afraid?”

As she made eye-contact with him, the first thing she noticed were his eyes; they were as blue as the sea, like the calm blue of the ocean near her father’s beachfront home. Finally, her voice came out barely above a whisper. “I don’t think so.”

Paul smiled gently, “I’m glad, but I do understand why you were frightened, I had done something considered to be out of the ordinary. But, the truth is, I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Then is it okay for me to talk to you about what happened?” Sharon asked softly.

Paul nodded, “of course.”

Sharon took a deep breath. “I regretted running away from you,” she said honestly.

“Why is that?”

What he did not expect was to see were tears that began to stream down her cheeks. It was as though she was trying to hold them back by sheer will, but could not.

Paul inched his way closer to where she was seated and reached over and took one of her hands in both of his. “It’s alright, Sharon, just take your time.”

She nodded as she felt the warmth of his hands holding tightly to hers. Instead of pulling away she relaxed her hand in his hold and tried to find the words she wanted to say. “I was on the beach Friday night because it was my last night in San Diego.”

“Your last night?” he asked, not quite understanding.

“On Saturday, I had to leave and I didn’t want to. It hurt so much to leave because I had spent my whole life there and now I have to live here. I guess when I saw you and how sad you were, I realized that that was exactly how I felt.”

“I sensed about you as well,” Paul said. “You’re right though, it is very difficult to be far from home. That was the light you saw, it was my way of trying to connect to my home.”

“You’re from a lot farther away than San Diego then, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice small.

Paul nodded but did not offering any explanation. He could tell simply by looking at her that she needed to talk much more than he did.

“Then you really do understand how I feel?”

He nodded.

“Then I wasn’t imagining it,” Sharon said as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks. “You’re homesick, like me.” She grasped the starfish necklace that Penny had given to her with one hand, and reached into her pocket with the other. She pulled out the cloth handkerchief and tried to wipe the persistent tears away. After a few swipes with the cloth, she gave up trying because she could no longer hide her overwhelming sadness.

She looked up at him and saw compassion in his eyes. It no longer mattered where he came from, because of all the people she had talked to throughout the whole messy ordeal; he was the one who understood.

Standing up, he made his way over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her.

As she unfolded the handkerchief, she looked down at the floral patterns of the small piece of cloth. After a few seconds she started winding it between her fingers, but soon she was not able to hold back her emotions any longer. The handkerchief drifted to the floor and she began to weep softly, her hands covering her tear-stained face.

Paul pulled some tissues from his pocket and slid them into one of her hands. He rested his hand on one of her shoulders and squeezed it comfortingly. He could feel it, under his hand, trembling as she cried.

Seconds later, he wrapped a comforting arm around her and pulled her into the comfort of his embrace. He could tell that she needed someone else’s strength for a change and that the emotions he had gotten at the beach were much clearer now.

As the tears landed on the front of his shirt, she tightened her hold on him as she continued to weep softly. Through her tears she released the emotional strain of the custody battle, her mother taking her from her home, and the changes she had to accept without objection.

Paul maintained his hold on her, but his mind drifted as he felt the emotional burden she was under. _She’s just a child,_ he thought to himself, _I don’t understand how someone could emotionally cope with the burdens she’s obviously had to carry._

After a few minutes passed, her crying became softer, and she raised her head from within his embrace. The tears had left her face red and puffy, but she finally managed to regain control of her emotions. She remained in his arms but managed to wipe her nose and eyes with the tissue he had given her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“What for?” he loosened his embrace and looked at her questionably.

“For being there for me when I really needed someone to talk to,” Sharon said softly. In response to this he shrugged his shoulders and she continued. “I never got the chance to thank you for helping me,” she said as she reached down and retrieved her handkerchief. “Most people wouldn’t have bothered, but, I can’t get it out of my mind.”

“I’m sorry if what you saw left you feeling frightened and confused. I would like to explain everything to you, but I had the feeling that it was important for you to talk first.”

“If I hadn’t have run away, I wouldn’t have felt this way, but I can’t help it,” she said softly. “It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen, but still frightening at the same time. Was my ankle really broken?”

“Yes, it was, and I couldn’t have left you there after you had gotten hurt. It was my fault that you were injured and it was within my power to help you.”

“After I got home that night, I felt awful, I mean; you had helped me, and I didn’t even know your name,” Sharon whispered.

“Well, now you do,” he said smiling.

“Yeah,” she said with a small smile on her face.

“Can I ask you a question now?” He asked, when she nodded, he continued. “I’m just curious; did you speak to anyone about what happened?”

She shook her head. “No, I wanted to, but everyone I know would have thought I was crazy. I wanted to tell Penny about it. She’s my dad’s girlfriend, and we get along really well, but after I asked her one question, and she answered it, I knew that I couldn’t tell her about it. I didn’t even mention it to Scott. I guess I could have, but I was afraid he’d think I was crazy too.”

Paul smiled gently at the girl. “I am grateful that you kept this to yourself, but I feel badly that you suffered as a result of what happened.”

“It wasn’t you that caused me pain, there are a lot of things going on that did that. I told Scott about it, my parents were fighting each other over where I’d live, but neither of them bothered to ask me what I wanted. Finally, the judge told my father that he’d have to send me here to live with my mother.”

“And you wanted to stay,” he said softly.

“Yeah, my dad and I are more alike. My mom likes things like abstract art and I like live pictures. Even though my father’s always busy, I can talk to him sometimes, and can usually be honest about how I feel about things. With my mom, I can’t because every time I do, she starts trying to psychoanalyze me.”

“Psychoanalyze?” Paul’s eyes widened, “I don’t understand.”

Sharon did not seem to mind Paul’s lack of knowledge; she merely began to explain what she meant. “It means that because of her work, she’s always trying to test me to see if I fit into any of the personality types or something. I don’t really understand everything about it; I just know I hate it.”

“I must admit, I’m relieved that I wasn’t entirely at fault for the pain and sorrow you’ve endured. I know you did say that I did not play a direct role in it, but I do have a feeling that I did,” Paul said.

She looked at him wanting to shake her head, but when his eyes met hers, she finally nodded. “I just don’t understand what I saw. I thought for a while that maybe it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but, I grew up on the seaside, and I know that it wasn’t a trick. Paul, you healed my broken ankle, and that wasn’t an illusion, it was real. I don’t know what you did, but I can walk.” She touched the spot on her foot where the bone had been broken. “Please, tell me, who you are, and don’t tell me you’re ‘just a friend’,” she smiled timidly, “because that, I already know.”

He smiled gently, but before he could begin, the door swung open and Scott came inside. “Sharon? What are you doing here?” he asked when he saw her sitting on the sofa in their living room.

Sharon blushed slightly, she had forgotten the real reason she was there. Luckily, Paul did not. “I think you took the wrong notebook and she needed to get hers back,” he said and pointed to blue notebook his son held.

Scott opened it. Upon seeing her flowing script on the front page, he smiled timidly. “I guess I was in such a big hurry that I grabbed the wrong one by mistake. Sorry.”

Sharon nodded and accepted the notebook that Scott held out to her. “It’s okay,” she said looking from Paul to Scott before standing up. “I guess I should get home, it’s getting late and my mother’s going to have a fit as is.” She walked towards the door and sighed deeply.

After a few seconds Scott excused himself and went into the bathroom and she was left standing awkwardly next to the door. “You don’t have to tell me anything about what happened if you don’t want to,” she offered, all the while not fully believing the words as they escaped from between her lips.

Paul walked over to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I will tell you everything, but I need to talk to Scott about what happened first. He needs to understand why I want to tell you. Once I do, we’ll have to leave and you probably won’t see us again.”

“Is that the same reason you left San Diego?” Sharon asked weakly.

Paul nodded, “yes.”

She opened the door before looking back over at him. He had told her that he was her friend and she believed him. “I have a feeling that it has more to do with what happened Friday night than what Scott said about your work.” He nodded slowly as she continued to speak. “Will you tell Scott that I’ll see him tomorrow at school?”

Paul smiled and nodded, as she walked outside and made her way in the direction of the stairs.

Once she was gone, he closed the door.  
  
---  
  
Sharon was still in a daze when she left the apartment building where Paul and Scott lived. As she walked slowly towards her mother’s apartment, she felt somewhat better. She did not know why, but it felt as though a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She made her way back up the street and smiled. It had been such a long time since she actually had a reason to smile.

Within about ten minutes, she had reached the apartment building where she lived and walked inside. She looked at her watch; it was already six o’clock. _Mom’s probably at home now and she’ll be angry because I’m late,_ she thought as she reached the front door. _It really doesn’t matter if she gets angry, because I wouldn’t have traded that afternoon for anything._ She paused before she opened the door and walked inside.

As she did, her mother was standing in the living room, a frown on her face and her hands on her hips. “Where have you been?” she demanded. “I’ve been worried sick about you. I was ready to call the police.”

“I met someone after school and we went for a walk,” Sharon said.

“I don’t care about your excuses, you should call when you’re going to be late,” Brenda said curtly.

“I'm sorry, Mom, I guess I’m just used to living with Daddy. I never had to call when I was going to be late, only when there is an emergency,” Sharon said.

“Well, you don’t live with your father anymore, so I expect you to call when you’re going to be late,” Brenda said huffily as she walked into the adjoining kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.”

Sharon sighed deeply, “okay.” There was no point in arguing and since her mind was already preoccupied, it did not matter. She left the room before her mother could say anything else and walked down the hall to her room. Once she had gone inside, she closed the door. Pulling the key from her purse, she retrieved the diary from her nightstand. Using it, she opened the book, and began to read the last entry from Saturday.

As she read about the man from the beach, she smiled. Now he had a name. It seemed almost too hard to believe that she had met him again. Talking to him somehow lightened the burden that she had been under during the past few months. That was the reason why it no longer mattered to her that she had been yelled at by her mother.

But, as her mind turned to the situation with her mother, she began to wonder why it was Brenda insisted on treating her the way she did. _I’m not eight years old anymore, but the way she acts, one would start to think I am._ She picked up her pen and opened the book to the first blank page. She had every intention of writing her entry for the day, but for some reason, she was unable to write about what it was that happened that afternoon. _It was probably safer inside,_ she thought to herself as she looked down at the blank page.

Finally, instead of writing something, she started doodling by drawing planets and stars along the borders of the page. On one, she wrote the name ‘Paul’ and smiled. After staring at it for about five minutes, she closed the book.

Her thoughts returned to her parents. _Why does Mom have to be so high-strung about everything? I can understand calling if something’s happened, but this was not even a problem, I was just late getting home,_ she thought to herself with a frown. Sharon was not used to living like her mother expected and now it was starting to feel as though she wanted her to change everything about herself.

At the very least, she had to change whatever it was that resembled her father, which turned out to be a great deal since she had more in common with him than her mother. Sharon looked up at the wall and sighed deeply as she saw the poster hanging there that her mother had bought for her Saturday afternoon.

Even the poster seemed to symbolize what she felt like she had lost. Rather than it being a photograph of the coastline, it was simply a watercolor painting of it. It looked like the cover of one of those 1,000 page novels that her mother had laying on the coffee table in the living room. Sharon had not been happy about the poster at all, but her mother had insisted that it would be perfect for the room.

Instead of feeling as though it was, Sharon felt that it was just another of the many sacrifices that she would have to make to please her mother. _What about me and what I want? Why must I give up everything about myself to make other people happy? I wish I could just go home. This town will never be home to me,_ she thought glumly.

She walked over to the stereo and turned on the radio. When she could not find some music to her liking, she grabbed her bag and pulled out some CDs. Her favorite type of music was country and she pulled a couple of her favorite CDs from the bag. One was music by The Judds and the other was a collection of songs by George Strait. These artists were her favorites, but for different reasons. She put on the Judds CD and turned the volume up loud enough where she could hear it, but also soft enough where she would not annoy her mother. She turned off the air conditioner, and opened the window.

She sat down at the desk as the music started. She picked up her pencil and grabbed the blue notebook as the song ‘Love Can Build a Bridge’ filtered through the room. Rather than getting started on the homework, she listened to the lyrics of the emotional song. Somehow it spoke to her more than anything else could. She dropped the pencil on the desk and stared out the window.

Geometry was suddenly the farthest thing from her mind.  
  
---  
  
Fox and Wylie continued to interview people throughout Monday afternoon, with little success. They returned to the home of Steven Peters with the hope that he would be there. The tap on the phone line had been in place a little over twenty-four hours, and no one had called in or out. The location of Sharon Peters was still unknown and Fox was growing impatient. Someone had to know where she was.

They made their way up the path leading to the beach house. Steven was outside and working in the front yard. He had stopped and was wiping a cloth over his face as the two agents approached. “Steven Peters?”

“Yeah?” he asked as he stuffed the cloth in his pocket and continued working with the spade he had been holding in the other hand.

“Do you have a few minutes to speak with us?” Wylie asked.

Steven turned and faced the two men, “yeah.”

“I’m George Fox, and this is Agent Wylie, FSA. We were here yesterday, and interviewed your friend, Ms. Higgins,” Fox said as they both showed the man the agency identification cards they carried.

“Yes, Mr. Fox, Penny mentioned your visit when I got home last night. Sorry I wasn’t here; I was buying supplies for the deck out back, as well as getting some things to help get the garden in shape,” Steven said as he leaned the spade against the side of the house. “Come on in, I need to get a glass of water and we can talk there. It’s a little too warm to stand out here, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” emerged Wylie’s grateful response. “It’s much cooler back east.”

“I can imagine,” Steven said as he led the two men back inside the house.

“I’m sure your friend explained why we were here yesterday, Mr. Peters,” Fox said as they came inside.

“Yes, she said that you were here to talk to my daughter, but she found it odd that you were only interested in speaking to Sharon and not to her mother or me,” Steven said.

“I explained that to her, but I can assure you that your daughter is not in any kind of trouble. We would only like to speak to her and see if she can help us find a couple of people. A witness said they saw her speaking to someone who resembled the man we’re looking for, and we wanted to find out if she knew where he is. I can’t understand why Ms. Higgins didn’t explain that to you,” Fox said with a slight edge in his voice.

“Well to be fair, Mr. Fox, Penny told me what she felt needed to be explained. I don’t think you should be making assumptions about her based on one meeting. Maybe things got a little bit mixed up, but Penny seemed a bit apprehensive about what you weren’t telling her as opposed to what you were.”

“Mr. Peters, I apologize for that, but there is some information that I am not at the liberty to divulge,” Fox said. “I’m currently involved in an investigation which is so important that you cannot even imagine, and your daughter may have inadvertently gotten involved in it. We’d really appreciate it if you would cooperate and tell us where she is, so that we can talk to her directly.”

“If my daughter was 18-years-old and an adult then I would be happy to oblige, Mr. Fox. The fact is, she’s still a child, and I don’t feel that telling you or your associate where she is would be particularly wise, at least not until I speak with my ex-wife about it,” Steven said as he took a sip of water.

Penny came in at that moment carrying a bag of groceries, but she stopped abruptly when she noticed the two men in the living room. Her normally friendly smile disappeared as she addressed the two men. “Hello, Gentlemen.”

“Ms. Higgins,” Fox said as he stood up abruptly and went over to shake her hand. Wylie followed suit.

Penny accepted their hands with her free hand before taking the bag into the kitchen. She returned some minutes later and sat down on the sofa. She listened as Wylie pulled the pictures out of the folder and handed them to his superior.

“Mr. Peters, maybe you can help us, have you seen these two individuals by any chance?” Fox asked as he extended the photographs to Steven.

Steven accepted them, looked down at the pictures and after a few seconds, shook his head, “no sorry.” He handed the pictures back to Wylie who stuffed them inside an envelope and both men stood up to leave.

“Please contact your ex-wife and ask her if we could speak to Sharon. I understand your concerns as the girl’s parents, but we need you to understand the severity of the situation,” Fox said.

The man looked at his girlfriend, his eyebrows arching meaningfully.

He watched as the two men left the house and once they were gone, Penny looked at Steven. “I had a feeling they’d be back, but I had no idea it would be so soon. What are we going to do now? If we go to Brenda’s place, they’re going to follow us there.”

“I know, and I have a feeling that they will continue to badger us until we tell them where Sharon is,” Steven said. “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that she went to live with her mother when she did.”

“Sending Sharon to her mother was ‘a blessing in disguise’?” Penny asked skeptically. “Steven, you can’t be serious. If Sharon was here, she’d be able to face both of those men without any problems at all. She’s a lot more grown up then you think. Have you even considered how she feels about going to live with her mother?”

“I didn’t really think about it, I just figured she’d adjust to the change like any kid would,” Steven said.

“But you knew that Sharon wanted to stay here, didn’t you?” Penny asked.

“I guess so, she mentioned it on Saturday just before she left,” Steven said.

“How dense can you get? Sharon’s been hinting about it since this entire mess started,” Penny said. “Frankly speaking, I don’t think you really know your daughter very well at all. Sharon told me only two weeks ago that you told her that this was strictly between her mother and you.” Penny looked at her boyfriend shaking her head. “That’s a bunch of baloney. Sharon’s mental health was riding on this entire thing. It affected her more than you or Brenda could even imagine because this decided her fate.” Penny sighed deeply looking down at her lap. “It breaks my heart every time I think about it. Why wasn’t she allowed to talk to the judge last week about what she wanted?”

“I was afraid that it was going to put too much of a strain on her,” Steven said.

“And you don’t think she experienced stress throughout this whole ordeal? Whatever she wanted was completely ignored. She’s not some valuable vase; she’s a human being and your child. If she had been given the option of choosing, then she probably would have opted to staying here and the entire case could have been decided the way it should have been. You know how much she loves the water. She loved to take walks there at night and she told me that it was her favorite place in the whole world. Were you aware of the fact that she learned to surf during the summer?”

“She learned to surf?” he cracked a smile, despite himself. “If Brenda knew about that, she’d have had a fit.”

“Who really cares what Brenda would have thought? Throughout this entire mess, neither you nor Brenda even recognized Sharon. It was like a battle to see who would win, with Sharon as the first prize. You were both out to use Sharon as a way to hurt or destroy the other. Do you know what she said when her mother arrived on Saturday? She muttered the word ‘checkmate’. You didn’t hear it, but I sure did. Sharon was acknowledging that her mother had won the game and she had become the prize,” Penny said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. “I know about this first hand, my parents did the exact same thing to me when I was twelve and it hurt like nothing in the world.”

Steven shifted uncomfortably as she continued to speak. “You know what else? Sharon said more than anything, she wanted to stay with you, because her mother usually treated her like a baby, and her independence is very important to her. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to say good-bye to her friends and to leave just like that. I think quite honestly, what happened to her wasn’t fair. She should have been giving an option to choose, no matter how hard it might have been for her.”

“I didn’t know,” Steven said softly. “I guess throughout the entire ordeal, I wasn’t thinking about Sharon, but how it would affect me. Penny, you know I love my daughter, and the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt her.”

“I know you didn’t intend on hurting her, but what’s done is done.” Penny said softly resting her hand on her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Now, because of all this, both you and Brenda have hurt her and something must be done to rectify it.”

“You think I should call my lawyer and appeal the Judge’s decision?” Steven asked.

“For a start, yes, but this time you have to make sure Sharon’s directly involved in every stage of it,” Penny said. “It may hurt her now, but in the long run, she’ll be grateful that you took the time to actually listen to her wishes. Right now, we need to talk about how we’re going to handle these two FSA guys if they happen to come back. I know that eventually we’re going to have to tell Brenda about all this, but there has to be a way to do it without her going completely ballistic. The last thing Sharon needs is to have to cope with her mother going nuts and throwing accusations at people.”

“What do you mean, about her going nuts?” Steven asked his face pale.

“Just what I said,” Penny responded. “Sharon told me about a month ago that she feels as though she can’t really talk to her mother because she feels like she can’t do anything to please her. Sharon is so easygoing and Brenda’s so controlling that I fear that your daughter may lose every last bit of independence while she’s there. I think forcing her to go live with her mother was a big mistake.”

“You know we had very little choice,” Steven whispered.

“I know, but do you remember what Brenda said about Sharon wanting to bring her clothes with her before she left?” Penny asked.

“Yeah, she said that Sharon wouldn’t need them there because there was no beach and no appropriate place where she could wear them.” Steven responded.

“I would have insisted on it regardless of what Brenda had said. No matter where you go, the possessions you have are like your security, or a part of your identity. If I were to leave California tomorrow, I’d take everything with me, even if I had to pay extra for it. Two suitcases are hardly what I would call all of one’s personal possessions. Half of Sharon’s keepsakes and stuffed animals are still in her room here. Did you notice that before she left, she put on a dress from her closet and not something from the suitcase?”

Steven shook his head, “No, I didn’t notice anything. But I don’t understand why you didn’t say anything about this to me before now. Maybe if I had known, then I might have been able to make a difference.”

“Steven, you still can make a difference, if you act with Sharon in mind and not yourself,” Penny offered. “The reason I didn’t mention anything about this before now is because we aren’t married, and I’m not a member of the family. Even if I were, I’m not directly involved in Sharon’s life, but I do care about what happens to her.”

“I think you’re the most special person I’ve ever met,” he said, “but what do you suggest I do about those two guys who were here?”

“As much as I hate having to say it, you’ll probably have to call Brenda and let her know. But, if I were you, I’d wait and do it at the earliest tomorrow,” Penny said.

“Why should I wait? If I have to do it, why can’t I just do it now?” Steven asked not sure why it would make a difference for him to hold off calling by one day.

“Sharon started at a new school today, and it wouldn’t be fair to burden her with this on top of everything else she’s had to cope with.”

“Okay, but I wish there was another way to deal with this situation. I hate calling Brenda, she’s always such a grouch about things,” Steven said hesitantly.

“I know, but you’re going to have to do it for Sharon’s sake, not for yours or Brenda’s.”

“Okay, then I’ll call first thing tomorrow morning,” Steven said, “but, I have a feeling that I’m going to live to regret it.”

“If those government guys come calling tomorrow, you’re going to have to tell them something, and as long as Brenda knows about them, then maybe you both can agree on something that is best for Sharon. It’s a far cry better for her to know they’re coming than for them to just show up. This way it will give Sharon the time to prepare for their questions. For once, you both need to concentrate on Sharon’s well being over your own,” Penny said as she stood up and walked into the kitchen.  
  
---  
  
At the same time, Paul had come out of the kitchen to see Scott working on his homework. He approached the table as the teenager laid down his pencil and closed the notebook. As the teenager’s attention shifted to his history textbook, Paul sat down and looked at his son. “Scott, we need to talk.”

“What’s up?” Scott looked up from his book.

“It’s about Sharon,” Paul began, but before he could speak again, his son interrupted.

“Oh, Dad, I just met her this week, what’s the big deal?” Scott closed his book and stood up. He walked over and made himself comfortable on the sofa.

“I have to tell her who I am,” Paul said simply.

“Why? She’s just some girl I met at school,” Scott interrupted his father for a third time.

“If you stop interrupting, I’ll tell you,” Paul said as he dug in his pocket and pulled out his sphere. The object he held tightly in his fist. “You probably won’t believe this, but Sharon Peters is the girl I told you about who saw me using the sphere on the beach in San Diego.”

“No way,” Scott objected. “That’s not possible. It couldn’t have been the same girl.”

“As impossible as it sounds, she is the same person. I didn’t believe it at first either,” Paul said. “Then when I opened the door this afternoon, she saw me, and fainted. Like I said this morning, she knew who I was, because she had seen my face. I didn’t see hers, but there were things about her that I did recognize, like her shoes.”

“You recognized her shoes?” Scott asked somewhat skeptically. “You’re no Prince Charming, Dad.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Scott said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. “What I don’t get is how we all ended up in Franklin. Isn’t that a little bit coincidental?”

“Her mother lives here, her father is in San Diego.” Paul said softly.

“I remember her saying that her dad had a beach house there,” Scott offered. “Did she tell you about the custody battle?”

“What's that?” Paul asked.

“After her parents got divorced, they both wanted her to live with them,” Scott explained, “so they called lawyers, went to court, and had it all decided there.”

“She mentioned it to me, but not in very much detail. She mostly talked about the relationship she has with her parents, specifically her mother,” Paul said. “When she cried on my shoulder, all the feelings she had been harboring came out.”

“What did you sense about her?” Scott asked softly.

“I could tell that she was quite unhappy. I thought that I was the cause of it, but it wasn’t entirely me that made her feel that way,” Paul whispered. “The more we talked, the more I realized that she can’t really talk to too many people honestly about what is happening in her life.”

“It’s strange,” Scott remarked. “She never mentioned anything about what happened on Friday night. I don’t understand why she didn’t tell me. I thought she was my friend.”

“She is your friend, but she’s afraid to say anything to anyone about it. When I talked to her, it took a good deal of time for me to get her to open up. I think she’s frightened of the truth even though she senses it.” Paul returned the object to his pocket. “She told me that a lot of people would have thought she was crazy if she had mentioned it to them, so she opted to keep it to herself.”

“So basically, she refuses talk to anyone about it,” Scott said.

“She did speak to me about it, but she’s still confused. From what I saw happen with her today, her emotional burdens have been going on for such a long time. She was contending with them long before the events of Friday night even happened.”

“It makes sense because divorce does that to a lot of kids,” Scott said. “Often times parents are only thinking about themselves and the kids are used as a prize for the one who wins. It sort of makes me feel really lucky that I have you.” Paul blushed slightly as his son continued to speak. “Sharon told me that her parents never really listened to her or even thought about what she wanted. I really felt sorry for her after I heard that.”

“She doesn’t want your pity, what she needs is to be able to talk to both of her parents and have them understand and accept her wishes. Right now, they don’t seem to acknowledge that at all. All you can do for her now is what you’ve been doing, just be her friend until I can sit down with her and tell her the truth about us,” Paul said.

“Okay, but how are you going to do that?” Scott asked as he looked at his father.

“I don’t know. I want to tell her in a way that won’t frighten her. She already knows that once she knows the truth, then we’ll have to leave,” Paul answered.

“I kind of figured that.”

“I have a feeling that it might be best if you try not to talk to her about any of this. I’d rather do it myself,” Paul said.

“Okay, but what if she mentions it to me?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know, try to change the subject, I guess.”

Scott nodded and picked up the TV schedule. He knew that his father was right to tell Sharon the truth, but he hoped that everything would be okay. Finally, he looked over at his father. “Did you manage to find a job today?”

Paul shook his head, “No, but I’ll check the classifieds tomorrow morning, and see if there is anything available.”

Scott nodded, picked up the remote control to the television, and turned it on.  
  
---  
  
The following morning, Sharon sat up in bed and pushed the blankets away. She got up and went over to the closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Her mind had been a thousand miles away since she had spoken to Paul. She still was unable to write about it and her diary’s pages remained blank. For whatever reason, she was afraid to write down anything that described what happened for fear that the wrong people might find out that Paul was present. Given his reaction to things on Friday night, she suspected that he and Scott were in some kind of trouble. _Maybe, Penny’s healthy paranoia is starting to rub off on me,_ she thought.

She quickly dressed and pulled her hair back in a rubber band. In the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and washed her face.

As Sharon was leaving the bathroom, she realized that she was not that hungry, and figured that she would just skip breakfast. She figured that her mother was still in bed because she could hear the swells of music from the clock radio drifting out into the hallway. The teenager made her way down the hall but stopped suddenly when she heard the phone ringing in the living room. She listened as the radio was abruptly turned off and she could hear her mother crawling out of bed and grabbing the phone. Sharon stood stationary in the hallway as her mother’s voice drifted out into the hallway.

“Steven, why are you calling at this hour?” Brenda’s curt voice emerged. Sharon did not understand why her father was on the phone, he would never have called unless it was something important. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the door to her mother’s room and pressed her ear up against it. She listened to her mother’s side of the conversation in profound disbelief.

“Two government officials are asking questions about Sharon? The FSA? Is this some kind of joke?” she paused. “It’s no joke,” another pause. “Steven don’t you dare tell me to calm down. Yes, I think you’re making this up. Go ahead and tell them where she is and the day that I believe that story will be the day that these two men come knocking at my front door.”

Sharon did not hear anything else; she grabbed her backpack and ran towards the front door. She did not want to be in the apartment when her mother got off the phone. As she ran through the living room, she was grateful for the carpet, which concealed her footsteps. She had a feeling that she would be next to be yelled at by her mother, and instead of waiting around for the inevitable, she wanted to be gone.

She opened the door, stepped out into the outer hallway, and closed it gently behind her so her mother would not hear her leaving. She felt like a thief as she left, but she wanted to make sure that no one saw her go. Once she stepped outside and made her way across the street towards the park, she took off running as fast as she could in the direction of the school.

As she made her way down the street, she soon reached the building where Paul and Scott lived. Standing across the street from it, she stopped as her thoughts began racing. _It’s strange how these government guys would be asking questions about me so soon after what had happened in San Diego._

She sighed deeply, but began to shiver from the cool breeze. She was afraid that there was a connection between her two friends what her father had told her mother. Instead of going to school, she ran towards the building as fast as she could.  
  
---  
  
“Sharon!” Brenda yelled once she had hung up the phone. She came out of her room and walked down the hall. As she did, she continued to call her daughter’s name, the impatience in her voice evident. Frustrated when she received no answer, she opened the door to her daughter’s room and sighed. Sharon was gone. On her bed, a small silver key was placed and the closet door was half opened.

Approaching the bed, she picked up the key all the while recognizing the size as that of a diary key. Rather than thinking about the privacy of her daughter, she walked over to the desk and started rummaging through the drawers in search of the small book that matched it. When she could not immediately find the diary, she closed the drawers and walked towards the nightstand.

She opened the drawer and when her gaze came to rest on the book, she pulled it out. Fumbling with the key, she managed to stick it inside the lock. Turning it she opened the small book. Her daughter’s script was easy to read, and she was able to see for the first time the pain that Sharon had been subjected to throughout the battle with her ex-husband. The first entry, she recognized as dated on the same day her lawyer had contacted Steven about who would have custody of Sharon.

Page after page of her daughter’s innermost feelings were written there, and as she read, she began to understand the emotional turmoil Sharon had suffered throughout the entire ordeal. Finally, she reached the page where Sharon had learned that she would have to move to Franklin.

Brenda’s face paled as she read about her daughter’s frustrations and how neither of her parents listened or understood what she wanted. _They treat me like I’m some kind of trophy or prize as a way to show which of them is better. It hurts because neither one of them are behaving like the adults they claim to be. Instead they are talking through lawyers and legalese, but they don’t even know how to be civil with each other and that’s tearing me apart._

She wiped a stray tear from her eyes as she read about Penny Higgins being Sharon’s confidant throughout the whole experience. She went on to describe her father as being ‘preoccupied’ and ‘disinterested’ and her mother as being ‘selfish’, and ‘uncompromising’. _I’m afraid to tell my mother anything, because I know she’ll try to make me out to be like one of her patients, and not her daughter. I feel like she blames me for everything that happens,_ the entry read, and tears began to stream down Brenda’s cheeks. She eventually grabbed a tissue from her robe pocket and blew her nose.

Throughout the morning, she read the diary until she reached the entry of the day before Sharon had come to live with her. As she read, she became frightened when she discovered what had happened to Sharon just before leaving San Diego. _It was frightening, but it was also comforting because I finally was able to see that I wasn’t alone. There were other people out there who are just as sad and heartbroken as I am. When I saw the blue light in his hand, I thought maybe he was a magician, but then when he turned around, I realized that I was in the presence of an amazing individual. Was he from another world? I wanted to ask him, but that seemed so silly, so I waited. But, then something happened and I ended up hurting my foot. When I tried to stand up, I knew that it was hopeless; my ankle was either broken or sprained. Then this man used his light to help me. I could walk again._

As Brenda read about her daughter’s amazing experience, she wondered how it was that Sharon never mentioned any of it to her.

Tears continued to stream down her cheeks as she realized that her daughter obviously did not trust her enough to confide in her. She wondered what Sharon had told Penny Higgins about the man she had met. Recalling the phone conversation with her ex-husband, she realized that Sharon had obviously not mentioned anything about it to anyone. Perhaps because she did not want anyone else to be as hurt as she was.

Brenda sighed deeply as she turned the page and beheld the entry from the day before. On the page there only one word written and that was centered amidst several stars and planets. Neatly etched in her daughter’s familiar script was the name ‘Paul’. The rest of the page was blank.

_Who is Paul,_ she wondered. _Was this the person Sharon had been visiting with and the reason she was late the night before?_ She turned the page, hoping that there would be some sort of explanation, but the following page was also blank. She closed the diary, and stood up.

At that moment, she heard the doorbell, and she made her way down the hallway. She looked at the clock in the living room when she realized that it had been two hours since Steven’s call.

Tying her robe closed, she opened the door.

“Mrs. Peters?” Two men stood on the opposite side of the door, in suits, the shorter of them speaking.

“Yes?” Brenda answered.

“I’m George Fox and this is my associate, Agent Wylie, FSA. We’re here to talk to your daughter,” the man said.

Brenda’s eyes widened as she remembered the diary entry. She stood frozen in the doorway unable to utter a sound. After several seconds had passed, she found her voice, “won’t you please come in?”

Fox walked into the apartment, and pulled out his identification and showed it to her. “We’re sorry to disturb you, but we need to talk to Sharon Peters. Is she here?”

“No, she’s supposed to be in school. She left this morning before I got up. I wasn’t feeling so well, so I canceled all my appointments for today,” she said. “That’s why I’m still in my bathrobe. I wasn’t expecting guests.”

“She attends Franklin High School, correct?” Once she nodded, Fox looked at his assistant. “Come on Wylie, let’s get to the school.”

“Wait a minute, what do you want with my daughter?” Brenda asked.

“We’d like to ask her a few questions about something that happened the other night,” Fox said. “I assure you it is general procedure with witnesses.”

“With witnesses?” Brenda asked, “witnesses to what?”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot disclose that information,” Fox answered.

“Then I can be led to assume that some story about her seeing blue lights, and some incident on the beach the other night wasn’t made up; it was real.” Brenda said. “My ex-husband hasn’t been making up wild stories, you were really at his beach house, and he was telling the truth when he called this morning.”

“Did Sharon tell you anything about the incident that took place Friday night?” Wylie asked. "Mr. Peters and his lady friend both said they didn’t know anything about it.”

“No,” she answered, immediately feeling ashamed for having read her daughter’s diary. “I do know about it, though.”

“Mrs. Peters, have you seen these two people recently?” Fox asked as Wylie handed her two photos. “The man is Paul Forrester and the boy is his son, Scott Hayden.”

_Paul_ , the picture from the diary flashed across her mind. Brenda sat down on the couch and looked up at the men. “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t seen either of them, but my daughter has the name ‘Paul’ written in her diary.” As soon as the words were out, Brenda regretted them. She had probably just shattered the last remaining bit of trust from her daughter. Sighing, she lowered her head.

“Is the entry dated?” Fox asked as she handed the pictures back to Wylie.

“No, but I think it’s from yesterday. She came home late from school and it was the last entry in the book,” Brenda said softly.

“Thank you Mrs. Peters, we won’t take any more of your time. Wylie, let’s get to the school.” The two agents were out the door before Brenda Peters could say another word.  
  
---  
  
Prior to the interview between her mother and the two government agents, Sharon had reached the building where Paul and Scott lived. She knew that it did not take a rocket scientist to determine that Paul and Scott were in danger and that she would have tell them about her father’s phone call. She had a feeling that she would eventually have to talk to them, but she wanted Paul and Scott to be safely away before that happened.

She did not stop running until she was standing in front of their door, breathing heavily. Her heart was racing and she rested her hand over her chest trying to catch her breath. Her other hand was resting against the doorframe, as her breathing slowly returned to normal. “Paul, please be at home,” she whispered to the stillness as she rang the doorbell.

She waited a couple of minutes, and tried again. When no one answered, she shrugged her shoulders and began to walk down the corridor, over to the stairs and sat down. They were not home, and she was already late for school. She started to wonder if they had already left town or if Paul had left for work.

She slowly walked downstairs and in the direction of the school. Maybe after her last class she would be able to catch them at home. She only hoped that it would not be too late, because time seemed to be the one thing she had working against her. She arrived at school about half an hour late, and after explaining to her teacher why she was late; she managed to get through the morning without any problems.

Her worries were heightened because she had not seen a trace of Scott all morning and she wondered if that had anything to do with her father’s phone call. As usual she had nobody that she could really talk to about this. When she did not see Scott in the first of three classes they shared, she realized to what extent his absence alarmed her.

After leaving English, she headed towards the cafeteria for lunch, but decided to stop off at her locker hoping to run into him. When she did not see him there, she sighed deeply and headed towards the glass doors that would lead outside. As she made her way across the courtyard, she spotted him sitting against a tree and she sighed with relief. Approaching him, she noticed that his eyes were focused on a history book. She walked towards where he was sitting and called out his name.

After a couple of seconds, he looked up and smiled. “Hey, how are you doing?”

Sharon shrugged her shoulders but did not immediately respond. Her mind was still consumed with conflicting thoughts. After several moments, she spoke. “I haven’t seen you all morning, you weren’t in English and I really need to talk to you about something.”

“I had to go talk to the guidance counselor about my missing transcripts,” he offered. When he saw her worried expression, his smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”

“Something really weird happened this morning,” Sharon said.

“You want to talk about it?” Scott asked.

She nodded, “yes, but I have a feeling there isn’t time. You shouldn’t be here, I’m afraid that something awful is about to happen.” Sharon sat down next to him. “Scott, there are these two government guys on their way to Franklin.”

Scott’s face paled and he looked at her. “How did you know about them?”

“My dad called my mother this morning, and he told her about them. They had been asking questions about me. I think it had something to do with what happened Friday night, and what I saw your father do. When I heard her on the phone, I left and went to talk to your dad this morning, but there was no one home.”

“He’s been trying to find a job,” Scott explained.

“Yeah, I figured that, but then after I left your apartment, I came here in hopes of finding you and telling you about it before something happens,” she said weakly.

“Are you sure those guys are going to show up here?” he asked as he began to collect his books.

She nodded as she lowered her head and stared down at the ground. “I don’t know if they’re coming or not. I overheard my mother telling my dad that they should come here and talk to me about it. She didn’t seem to believe him, but that’s nothing new. Scott, I know that my dad wouldn’t lie to her about something like this. He tends to avoid direct confrontations with her at all costs, so he wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important.”

He nodded and stood up. Once he had all of his books in his arms, he looked over towards the doors, which led into the school. Two people were coming out the door and walking across the courtyard and in the direction of where they were. His eyes widened in fear as he recognized them.

Sharon glanced around as soon as she noticed the frightened expression that was now on Scott’s face. The books slid from his arms and landed on the ground. The boy was frozen where he was, and Sharon had no idea as to what she should say or do next.

As they approached, she could see them better. Both were dressed in suits and ties, and a tremor shot through her. They had to be the two men her father had said would be here to talk to her. Now she had led them right to Scott. “Run, Scott, run away as fast as you can,” she whispered guiltily.

Scott took off across the courtyard and within seconds, the two men had seen his movement and took off after him.

Sharon was left alone, her feet firmly rooted to the ground. She had seen absolute horror in the eyes of her friend and could do nothing to help him. Sighing sadly, she began to collect Scott’s scattered books as the two men ran past without saying a word. The bell rang, and instead of going back inside the school, she ran after them and stopped when she saw them over near the track. Coming closer, she managed to focus her attention on the events that were taking place out on the field.

The two men had caught up with Scott and the larger of them had tackled her friend and was pulling him off the ground. She could see him struggling against the hold the man exerted on him. As she came closer, she wondered if there was something she could do. Right at that moment, she was too far away to say anything and now she was too afraid to move any closer. She could now see the sun reflecting off some silver in the man’s hand, which she guessed were handcuffs. Seeing this frightened her and instead of coming closer, she ran away.

Before she had completely left the school grounds, she stopped and slowly turned around. _You can’t just leave Scott,_ her conscience scolded her. _No matter how terrified you are, you have to go back and find out where they are taking him._

By the time she had reached the field, the two men and her friend were gone and she had no idea where they had gone. Sighing deeply, she started to walk in the direction of Paul and Scott’s apartment. _This is my fault,_ she thought despondently as she continued to walk slowly. After several seconds, she stopped. _If I lead them to Paul, the way I did with Scott, then everything would be lost and it would be my fault,_ she thought desperately.

Realizing that she did not have any other friends, she knew that the only thing that she would be able to do would be to find Paul. Maybe he could use his powers to help free his son.

Casting a sideways glance behind her, she noticed that now no one was following her. She took a deep breath and ran in the direction of the apartment building.

When she finally reached it, she checked once more to make certain that she was still alone. Taking the steps two at a time, she ran up them and when she reached the door to their apartment, she began to pound loudly on it. As her fist rapped loudly against it, she shouted over. “Paul, it’s me, Sharon, please open the door, it’s an emergency!”

The door immediately swung open after a few seconds and she rushed inside straight into Paul’s unsuspecting arms. The moment she felt his arms encircling her, she began to cry hysterically.

“Sharon, what has happened?” Paul asked as he pulled her into the apartment and kicked the door closed. “Please, you have to calm down,” he said as he took both of her hands and led her over to the sofa and helped her to sit down.

As she felt her own weight giving out and she literally collapsed against the sofa, she unconsciously bit down on her lip and tried to do as he had said.

Paul remained silent until her breathing had normalized, then he rested his hand on her shoulder. “Now, tell me what has happened.”

“It’s Scott, he’s in trouble,” she managed to speak through her tears. She raised her head and looked at him before lowering it once again. “T-this morning, my dad called my mother and I overheard her on the phone. H-he said that these men from the government were at his house and wanted to find me.”

“They wanted to find you?” Paul asked.

She nodded. “T-that’s what my mother said, but she didn’t believe it. Just before I left, I heard her telling him to go ahead and tell them where I was. After that, I left hoping to find you and Scott and warn you about it.”

“You suspected that we are in trouble, didn’t you?” he asked.

She nodded. “I came here this morning, but no one was home, so I thought I should go to school and tell Scott when I saw him in class. When I finally found him, it was too late. They had shown up and then started chasing him. Scott looked so scared…” her voice trailed off as she shook her head. “…It’s all my fault.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” Paul said softly.

“But, you don’t understand, if they hadn’t have been looking for me, they would never have found him.”

“I don’t blame you for what happened, and I don’t think that Scott would either. How can you believe that this is even your fault?” When she did not respond, his next words emerged. “I think you’d better start at the beginning. What exactly did you overhear?”

“The first thing I heard was my mother yelling at my dad. She was accusing him of lying to her. Then I heard her say something about the agents from the federal government wanting to talk to me. I figured that it had something to do with what happened Friday night, but I didn’t tell her anything, I swear it.”

“I believe you, Sharon, I know that you’d never do anything to hurt either one of us,” he said. “What happened next?”

“She got really mad and told him that she didn’t believe a word he said and that the only way she would, would be if the agents were to show up at her front door. When they approached us at the school, I thought they were after me. They must have shown up there and then…” her voice trailed off as she tried to catch her breath. “…And then she told them that I was at school.”

When she began to speak once again, her voice was cracking with emotion. “I’m scared, Paul, when those guys showed up at the school, I thought they were after me, but then I saw Scott, and he looked terrified.” Sharon looked up at him, but when he said nothing, she continued. “I thought I should tell you about it and ran back here. But, then I became afraid that they would follow me and try to hurt you, so I ran back to the field, but when I got there, the two men and Scott were gone.”

Apparently, Sharon was not the only person who had seen him do something unusual on Friday night. George Fox had Scott, and probably would not be leaving town until he had him as well. As he glanced over at Sharon, he realized that he was not the only one who was worried, she looked positively horrified. “Everything's going to be okay, Sharon,” he said softly. “Someone else must have seen what happened on Friday and they contacted George Fox and the FSA.”

“Then it’s true, you and Scott are in trouble with the government,” Sharon whispered softly, “but why?”

Paul nodded as he dug in his pocket and pulled out his sphere. “I promised you that I’d explain everything and now we must hurry.” He sat down next to her and smiled weakly. “It would probably be easier for me to show you rather than try to explain.”

“Show me?” Sharon whispered as she wrung her hands together nervously.

“Give me your hand,” he said softly.

“W-why?” Sharon whispered as she began to wipe her sweaty hands nervously on her jeans.

Paul reached over and took her hand, “don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” He turned it over so her palm would face upwards. He uncurled her fingers and laid the sphere in the palm of her hand.

As she felt the weight of the object she closed her eyes. Her arms were already tense and he could tell by her body language that she was afraid. “Sharon, open your eyes.”

Slowly, she did as he requested. “Y-you don’t have to do this, you know,” she stammered trying to maintain some control over her emotions.

“Yes, I do, now just relax,” Paul said warmly. “I’m your friend, remember? I would never do anything that might bring harm to you.”

“I-I…” her voice trailed. She believed him and remembered the light, and how beautiful it was. Now the object that made the light was resting in her hand and she looked down at it. The silver sphere rolled around in her hand and she glanced back over at Paul, who was now looking down at it. Finally, he reached over cupped his hand beneath her own as he concentrated on the object she was now holding.

As the sphere began to glow, Sharon could feel the warmth overwhelming her. The calming sensation that she remembered when he had healed her ankle had returned and she started to concentrate on the light and what it was doing to her. Several moments passed as the glow intensified and they were both bathed in light.

Sharon raised her head and looked into the eyes of the man seated beside her. Instead of staring at the sphere, she was now looking at him. As she did, she remembered the diary entry with the pictures of the stars and planets that she had drawn. Her mind remained filled with similar visions as the light began to fade. After a couple of seconds, she momentarily closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, the light had faded and the object had returned to its natural state. That was when she realized that there were tears streaming freely down her cheeks.

She handed the sphere back to him and watched as he returned it to his pocket. He then pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. Once she had wiped her eyes with it, she smiled weakly. “They weren’t after me,” she whispered. “They wanted you.”

“Yes, I imagine they wanted you to tell then where we are,” he said.

“I never would,” she whispered.

“I know,” he said.

“Paul, what was the light I saw?” she asked shyly.

“The light you saw is me, as I appear in my natural state. I’m not from your world, Sharon, and Scott is half like me. What you sensed and felt when you held the sphere was the truth, conveyed through feelings and ideas,” Paul said. “George Fox knows who I am and from where I come. He believes that I am a threat to your world.”

“But, you’re not,” she whispered. “If you were then you would have blasted me with that light, but you didn’t. Instead you’ve been nothing but good and kind.”

Paul smiled.

“You know, Scott told me yesterday at school that I was special because both of my parents care about me so much that they want me with them, but he’s the lucky one, he has you,” she smiled weakly.

“I don’t know how lucky he is to be honest,” Paul said. “I caused a good deal of trouble these past few days and now my son is in trouble.”

Sharon looked at him. “What can I do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to help get Scott out of trouble, but I’m not sure what I can do, I’m just a kid,” she said.

“You want to help us?” When his gaze came to rest on her, he could tell that none of this would be easy for her.

She nodded timidly unable to give him a verbal answer.

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for,” she said. “Before you and Scott leave, please do me a favor.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t leave without saying good-bye,” Sharon said.

“I promise,” he said as he once again pulled the sphere from his pocket. “Now, I think the best thing to do is to find out where he is.”

“You can trace him with that?” Sharon asked.

“Well, no, but I can trace his sphere. Scott carries one as well.” Paul said as he began to concentrate on the object in his hand. Once the light appeared again, seconds passed and it disappeared. “I know where they are.”

Sharon laid the books she carried on the coffee table. As she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, she approached the door. Standing there for several moments, she waited for him to grab his jacket.

“Are you afraid, Sharon?” Paul asked as they were leaving the apartment.  
Instead of speaking, the teenager nodded.

“You’re not alone,” Paul said, and when she looked into his eyes, she knew that he was also afraid.  
  
---  
  
Scott was still struggling against the grip Wylie had on his arm when they reached the rental car the two agents had been using since their arrival in California on the weekend. “Let me go,” he continued to struggle against the grip the FSA agent had on his arm.

“Scott, where’s your father?” Fox demanded.

“I don’t know,” the stubborn teenager snapped, “but even if I did, I wouldn’t be telling you.”

Fox got behind the wheel of the car while Wylie climbed into the back seat with their prisoner. After about ten minutes, they reached the small hotel and they got out of the car. Once the two men had led the struggling teenager inside, Fox took the sphere away from Scott and handcuffed him to a chair. He then walked over towards the door, and turned around. “Regardless of whether or not you cooperate, we will catch your father,” he said as he and Wylie left the room. Once they were outside, they closed and locked the door.

Being trapped inside the room was scary, but not having his sphere was the worst because he knew that without it, his connection to his father was severed. If the agents were to go too far away from the hotel, Paul would have no way of finding him.

He looked towards the window of the room and could see Wylie just outside and guarding the room. The sun was reflecting off the silver object in the agent’s hand and he sighed deeply. Wylie was fiddling with his sphere, and as long as he kept it nearby, the teenager concluded that he would be okay. In the back of his mind, he was afraid that something would happen to his father.

He looked down at his hands. _There’s always trouble every time Dad tries to help someone,_ he thought sadly. He knew that Sharon would do whatever she could to help them, but he was not certain about how much she would be able to do since she was a kid like him. Sighing, his thoughts turned to his father.

It had been less than a year since his father had returned to Earth. Recently, they had found Jenny in Arizona, and Scott missed out on seeing her. He could not get ‘Building 11’ out of his mind. Would he be sent back there, to be tested on again? Frightened tears began to stream down his cheeks. He had no idea what was worse, being there alone, or having these people catch his father as well.

_How could anyone ever think for a second that Dad is a threat?_ He sighed deeply, his attention diverted to the events taking place outside the window. When he noticed that Sharon was now standing outside, his mouth opened in astonishment.

_What is she doing here,_ he wondered, but shuddered when he saw the gentle eyes of his father some distance away. _Dad, please be careful,_ he thought to himself, _I’d die if anything happens to you._

He smiled weakly when his gaze locked with Sharon’s. Suddenly, he understood their plan. The girl was there to try and get Wylie away from the door so that Paul could come and get him out. In the back of his mind, he hoped their scheme would work.  
  
---  
  
“Excuse me, sir,” Sharon approached the man guarding the door. “My mother said that I was supposed to meet you and your associate here. My name is Sharon Peters.”

“You’re Sharon Peters?” Wylie asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Mom said that you wanted to talk to me about something I saw last weekend in San Diego.”

“Yes,” Wylie answered. “My superior, should be back in a few minutes, and we can all sit down and talk. I’m Agent Wylie.”

Sharon nodded as Fox approached them. Before Wylie could inform his supervisor of who she was; he spoke to her. “Is there anything I can do to help you, young lady?”

Sharon cringed, this man, although about the same height as she was, looked very intimidating. She smiled, despite her nervousness, and spoke. “My name is Sharon Peters and my mom said that you wanted to talk to me about something that happened last weekend.”

Fox smiled, “yes, but didn’t I see you at the school earlier today? You were talking with the boy.”

“Yeah, I was,” she responded honestly. “Scott and I are in a few classes together.”

“Why aren’t you in school now?” Fox asked.

“It let out about half an hour ago and my mother came and picked me up so that I could come and talk to you. Didn’t you want to talk to me? My dad said that you were at his house, too, so I figured that it must be important.”

“It’s no longer necessary, unless you could offer us some information as to the whereabouts of Paul Forrester,” Fox said.

“I’d like to help you in any way I can, but I’m really hot and tired. Can we go inside the lobby and get a can drink or something?” Sharon asked keeping her voice sweet. She did not know if she could get them both to leave the doorway, but knew that if she could, then she would get them away for long enough so that Paul could get inside and help is son.

“Of course, if you can help me find Forrester, then I’d very much like to talk with you.” He indicated that Wylie was to stay by the door and wait for him to return. While the taller agent stood waiting, Fox led Sharon inside the lobby. She sighed when she realized that she would not be able to get him inside as well. Helplessly, she glanced back towards where Paul was hiding.

Wylie remained standing outside until he spotted a young couple making their way across the parking lot, each one holding can drinks. Deciding that it would not hurt for him to go quickly to the machine and buy himself one, he started to walk slowly away from the door. The vending machine was only twenty or so feet from the door, and he would be back in no time. Concluding that there was no way for Scott to escape from the locked hotel room he made his way across the parking lot, still holding the sphere in his hand.

His attention was focused more on the object he held in his hand than the activities going on around him. After several moments, he reached the large automatic machine, put the sphere in his pocket, and pulled out some change so that he could buy a drink. Once he bought a drink, he turned back around and made his way back towards the parking lot of the hotel.

Coming closer, he could see someone standing by the door and he broke into a run when he saw the door swing open. _Oh boy, I’m going to catch it now._ He thought when he saw a man rushing inside.  
  
---  
  
When Scott heard the rustling coming from outside, he looked up to see his father rushing into the room. Upon putting his hand on the lock of Scott’s handcuffs, they fell off and landed at his feet with a clatter. As the teenager was following his father out the door, he spoke, his voice laced in urgency. “Dad, Wylie has my sphere; we have to get it back from him.”

“I know, that’s how I was able to find you, I traced it here, but I only could tell that you didn’t have it when Wylie stepped away from the door,” Paul said. “Right now we have to get out of here before he comes back. I saw him over by the vending machine just as I was coming inside.”

Scott nodded as they rushed out the door, across the parking lot, and between the trees located about 30 feet away. As they reached the safety of the trees, the teenager turned around, he noticed that Wylie was now behind them.

When the agent was not able to catch up with them, he turned back around and made his way in the direction of the hotel. Upon reaching the door to the room, he closed the door and walked towards the lobby where he had seen his supervisor and Sharon go.

As soon as the agent was safely away, Paul and Scott breathed a sigh of relief. After several seconds, however, Scott rested his hand against his pocket, his relief vanishing when he looked at his father.

Paul rested his hand on his son’s shoulder, “don’t worry, we’ll get it back.”

Scott nodded, and looked back towards the hotel. “Where’s Sharon? I saw her outside, but then I saw Fox coming towards her just before he led her away from the window.”

“She went with him to talk about what happened and to act as a diversion for us. Right now, they’re inside the hotel lobby,” Paul said. “I’m afraid that Fox will try to accuse her of aiding in your escape and I really don’t want to see her get into anymore trouble. She’s been through enough.”

“Maybe, but we have to get out of here, Dad,” Scott objected and it was clear that he was still a bit shaken up by his brief encounter with the two agents.

“I know, but we can’t leave Sharon here to answer for everything that has happened. She’s in there by herself and I know that she’s afraid of what might happen as a result of helping us,” Paul whispered as he pulled out his sphere. “Now, it’s our turn to help her.”  
  
---  
  
Inside the lobby, Fox and Sharon were seated at a table. “...And then I looked up and saw the light,” Sharon was saying. “I didn’t talk to my parents about it because I thought they would think I was crazy.”

“Yes, Sharon, you’ve already said as much, but do you know where Paul Forrester is?” Fox asked trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

Sharon shook her head emphatically. “That was the last time I remember seeing him. It’s pretty weird though, I had no idea that Paul Forrester was Scott’s father and that they were both here.”

“Regardless of what you thought, I think you know where Forrester is and you won’t tell me. You attend school with his son, and you were talking to him this afternoon.” Fox cornered her right as Wylie came back inside the lobby. “Now, I want you to tell me where he is.”

“I don’t know where he is, Mr. Fox,” Sharon attempted to make eye contact with the man as Wylie’s voice could suddenly be heard above the quiet murmurs of the other people in the lobby.

“Mr. Fox, I just saw Forrester outside, and the boy was with him.”

“Did you leave the door?” Fox asked impatiently.

“Just for a few seconds, to get something to drink,” Wylie responded. The sphere was still held tightly in his fist.

“Okay, sit here and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere. If we don’t catch them, I will have her up on charges,” Fox said angrily.

Sharon recoiled as Wylie sat down. _Charges against me, but I didn’t do anything._

As the agent made himself comfortable, he looked across the table and noticed that she looked pretty scared, not only of George Fox, but of him as well. “Don’t worry about Mr. Fox, Sharon; he’s said that to a lot of people. Nobody’s going to press charges against you.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know; he looked pretty angry.”

Wylie reached over and patted her shoulder. “Believe me; I’ve worked with him for years. If he were to bring charges against anyone, it’d be me. I was the one that left the door unattended.” He smiled weakly when he saw her tense arms beginning to relax.

She looked up at him after a few seconds, and nodded. Finally, her gaze came to rest on the object he held in his hand. He was still fiddling with the silver sphere, and she figured that it must belong to Scott.

Lowering her head, she noticed that a small marble was on the floor. _With all the little kids in the area, it stood to reason that they might have lost a marble or two,_ she thought. _Maybe it will help me get Scott’s back. I have nothing to lose in trying; I’m already in trouble as is._ She leaned down and picked it up as Wylie turned around.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing, my back’s a little stiff,” she said. “Is there a problem with my stretching a little?”

Wylie looked over at the young girl, “no, of course not.”

Sharon continued to watch him as he rolled the object around in the palm of his hand. If she could get him to drop it, she could switch the objects and get the real one back. As an idea began forming in her mind and she leaned over the table. “What’s that?”

Wylie stopped fiddling with the sphere and held it between his thumb and forefinger, and whispered mysteriously. “I think you’ve seen it before. It is how the alien makes the blue light.”

“Are you being serious? An alien, like from out there?” she pointed above her head and made a circular motion with her finger as she mimicked the stars.

Wylie nodded.

“Mr. Wylie, if I were to have said something like that to anyone, they would have thought I was nuts,” Sharon said honestly.

“Don’t you believe in extra terrestrials?” Wylie looked at her curiously.

She nodded, “I guess I do, but, what about you?”

Wylie’s eyes widened, it was not very often that someone asked his opinion about anything and this girl seemed genuinely interested in what he thought. “Yes, I do.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Sharon asked after a few seconds passed.

He nodded.

“Do you believe that Paul Forrester and his son are really a threat to this world?”

He shrugged his shoulders not knowing how to respond to her question. “Do you think they’re dangerous?”

Sharon didn’t respond, instead she removed her tennis shoe and pulled the sock off her foot. As she rubbed her hand against her ankle, she looked at him. “My ankle was broken, but now it’s okay. I can actually walk. To be honest, I don’t know what happened Friday night, but I do know that if someone was going to destroy me, they probably wouldn’t have healed my broken ankle before they did it. Please, don’t hold it against me, but I disagree with you and Mr. Fox.”

She began to put the sock back on her foot. Once that was done, she grabbed her tennis shoe, and put it on. “May I see it for a second?” She asked motioning towards the sphere.

Wylie nodded and reached across the table to hand it to her. Right as he was about to drop it in her outstretched hand, she pulled her hand away and the sphere landed on the table and rolled off onto the floor. Sharon sighed, “I’m sorry, Mr. Wylie, I’ll get it.”

She stooped down and on her knees, picked up the sphere and stuffed it discretely in her pocket. When she sat back up, she looked down at the marble she had found on the floor, and rolled it around in her hand. Finally after a second passed, she handed it back to him.

After about half an hour had passed, Fox returned to the lobby. “They’re gone,” he grumbled as his steel-like gaze came to rest on Sharon. “Well, Miss Peters, I’m waiting. Did you get me in here so they could escape? I want some answers and I want them now.”

Sharon shuddered when the eyes of the man were once again on her. “No, I didn’t do anything.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks, but it did not take any will power at all for that to happen. Seconds passed and her next words emerged, breaking the silence of the lobby. “I don’t want to go to jail, I’m just a kid.”

Wylie looked at her sympathetically refraining from saying anything else.

Sharon’s outburst caused several people to turn around and stare at Fox, who was now regarding her with a guilty look on his face. “What are you doing to this poor child?” an elderly woman demanded as she and her husband were walking through the lobby. Her face carried shock and disapproval as her eyes regarded the FSA agent.

Seconds later, Sharon raised her head and looked towards the nearby window. When she could see Paul and Scott both peering through it and into the lobby, she started to wave her hand frantically, indicating that they should go before Fox saw them. The agent saw her actions and soon his gaze followed her own. When he eventually saw both fugitives standing there, he charged outside as fast as he could with Wylie following close behind him.

Sharon was still sitting in the room; her heart was racing as she watched them leave the lobby. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she thought of Paul and Scott and wondered why they were there. _Why would they risk their freedom for me?_ She asked herself. _They had a lot more to lose than I do._

After a few seconds had passed, she stood up and walked towards the door. When she heard a woman’s soft voice, she turned around.

“Are you all right, Honey? That man gave you quite a scare, didn't he?” The woman took hold of her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Sharon nodded, “He did, but I think I’m okay now.”

“Are you sure, Honey?” the woman released her hand and patted her shoulder.

“Yes, thank you for your concern,” she said.

“All right, well you take care,” the woman responded.

As Sharon walked through the glass doors and came outside, she ran across the parking lot and did not stop until she reached the safety of the trees. Once she was safely away, she rested her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. For someone who was generally active, she was certainly taking her adrenaline to extremes these days. As the tears streamed from beneath her eyes, she tried to wipe them away. She had never felt so afraid in her life.

She kept her gaze on the parking lot as her breathing began to return to normal. When a pair of hands suddenly rested on her shoulders, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Thinking that it might have been Fox or Wylie, she tried to cover her face with her hands until a gentle voice could be heard above her hammering heart.

“It’s alright Sharon, it’s only us.”

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see Paul and Scott were now standing next to her. As relief overwhelmed her, she threw her arms around them and she started crying.

Once she had managed to calm down, she looked at Paul as he started to lead them back in the direction of their car. “I don’t get it, what happened back there?” She asked as they reached the car. “Why were you guys looking inside the lobby when I was talking to Fox? You could have gotten caught again.”

“The answer to your question is quite simple, Sharon,” Paul explained. “We weren’t there, what you saw were holograms of us.”

“You mean like moving pictures?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ve used them before to protect us. I recreated them through the sphere as a way to keep you from getting into trouble after I helped Scott out of the room,” Paul explained. “I figured that it would appear as though you did nothing that Fox could hold against you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Paul nodded as they drove silently back in the direction of the apartment. Once they reached the familiar building, Paul and Scott rushed inside with Sharon following.

While the two of them rushed through the apartment and packed their belongings, Sharon sat on the sofa and watched. Within seconds, the job was finished and they dropped two duffle bags and Paul’s camera bag next to the front door. It would soon be time for her to say good-bye to them, and she was not certain she could do that without breaking down and crying.

“Dad, what am I going to do?” Scott asked, he had not smiled since they had left the hotel. “Wylie probably already sent my sphere back to Washington.”

_The sphere, I nearly forgot,_ Sharon thought as she reached into her pocket and pulled it out. “He didn’t, Scott. I have it right here.” She held the object in between her thumb and forefinger. As he approached to retrieve it, she admired it for a second and then handed it to him.

“How did you get it back?” Scott asked, awestruck.

“After Paul helped you escape from the room, Mr. Fox had his assistant come in and sit with me. The guy was playing with it the entire time, and when he finally let me see it, I switched it with a toy marble I had found earlier,” Sharon said. “If that silly toy had not been under the table, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“That was smart,” Scott said. “Thanks Sharon, you’re a real friend.”

Sharon shrugged her shoulders, but glanced up to see that Paul was nodding towards them. It was time to go. “I hate good-byes. It seems like all the people I really care about, I have to say good-bye to.”

Paul came over and rested his hand on her shoulder. As she raised her head, a stray tear escaped from beneath one of her eyes and she wiped it away. “I’m sorry our leaving makes you sad, Sharon.”

She nodded, unable to speak.

“You mustn’t be afraid to be honest with people,” Paul said gently. “I was never afraid to tell you the truth because this is something I know you would keep to yourself. I also have learned that sometimes you have to tell other people how you feel. Especially if what they have done has hurt you. Telling them will give them the chance to make things right again.”

Sharon nodded, she understood what Paul was telling her, but before she could answer, he spoke again. “I know you’re afraid of telling your parents how you feel about living here. I sensed it when we spoke yesterday. Just promise me that you won’t give up everything about yourself for the sake of your parents. No one should be that selfless.”

“How’d you know about that?” she asked weakly.

Paul smiled, “you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but since you asked; I felt it every time we hugged, or made physical contact. Through that, I could sense your emotions. It wasn’t just that I sensed it, I could also see it in your eyes.” He looked at her and continued. “I think you’re a very special person, Sharon. If you give up everything about yourself, there will never be anyone else like the Sharon Peters I see here right now. And the person I see right now is one I consider a friend.”

“You consider me a friend?” Sharon asked.

He said nothing, only nodded.

“Can I ask you a question?”

He nodded, “I’ll answer you if I can.”

“What was it like watching a planetarium exhibit knowing that you’re different?” Sharon asked.

“How’d you know about that?” Paul asked.

“That’s where we met the first time,” Scott said.

“I was there, but I didn’t see you, and I didn’t watch the show. I had been thinking about you, so I went there to check out their bulletin board.”

“You knew who I was after we met in San Diego, didn’t you?” Paul asked.

She nodded, blushing slightly, “I had a feeling when I saw the light, but I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to ask about it. I’m really glad that I did.”

“It was rather strange for me to watch it, but I did enjoy it,” Paul said. “When I hear something that I know is false, I cannot say anything without exposing who I am.”

“You probably know more about the universe than most astronomers here, huh?” Sharon asked.

“I think he does, but he’s pretty bashful about what he does know,” Scott said.

Paul blushed slightly, “perhaps, but I was a map maker of the stars before I came back.”

“A cartographer,” Sharon said. “That’s neat. Did I tell you that I was thinking about taking Astronomy next term?”

“Are you really interested in it?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I’ve never been very good at science, but maybe now I will take some more classes at school and try to learn something about it.”

“Whatever you decide to do, do it because you enjoy it, not for the sake of others,” Paul said sincerely. “Not even me, okay?”

Sharon nodded, “I know, but one never knows when they will get inspired.” She smiled and her eyes brightened. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me your secret. I felt really badly because I had told you everything about me yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to listen or ask you any questions.”

“I hope you understand everything I told you. What happened Friday should never have made you afraid or confused, Sharon.” Paul said as he stood up and smiled gently at the young girl. “I think it is time for us to go and you need to get home. I don’t want to be the reason for you getting into trouble.”

“No big deal, I’ve already got trouble when I get home. My mom will no doubt be angry with me about the call from my father and she’ll ground me for the next five years. Not to mention the fact that I’ve probably not seen the last of Mr. Fox.”

“But, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Paul objected.

“Try explaining that to my mom. Every time I turn around, she blows a gasket about something. Fault is irrelevant in her vocabulary unless it lands on someone else’s shoulders,” Sharon said bitterly.

“I’m sorry,” Paul said.

“I should be used to it. Ever since I was little she refused to listen to me, why should she start now?” She started to walk slowly towards the front door.

“I wish I could make things easier for you,” Paul said gently, “but there are some things that I cannot do.”

“I know,” Sharon said, “it’s up to me.”

“Dad, we really need to get going,” Scott said.

She nodded, Scott was right; it was time for them to say good-bye. “I won’t ever see you again, will I?”

“It’s highly unlikely, I’m afraid. But everyone we meet that becomes our friends also becomes a part of us, because we carry them with us – in our hearts,” Paul said and Scott nodded.

She wiped the stray tears from her eyes and smiled weakly.

“I think it would be best if you leave first, Sharon. I don’t want to walk out of here leaving you alone in this place,” Paul offered her his hand and she accepted. “We’re both very grateful to you. Thank you for helping us.” He wrapped his arms around her. After their embrace loosened, Sharon gave Scott a hug, and turned to face Paul one last time.

“Thank you for everything you did for me,” she said softly, walking slowly towards the door, and opening it. Before she left the apartment, she turned back around. She was too choked up to say anything, but the word ‘good-bye’ was stuck in her throat.

When her eyes met Paul’s, she knew he understood.  
  
---  
  
Paul and Scott left the apartment some ten minutes after Sharon. They reached the car and tossed their belongings in the trunk. Once they drove out of Franklin, Paul spoke. “Where do you think we should go now?”

“I don't care,” Scott answered. He was still getting over what had happened in the hotel room, as well as what Sharon had done for him. “I think I would just like to get away from California all together.”

“Are you all right?” Paul asked.

“I guess so,” Scott said softly. “That entire episode with Sharon was really kind of weird. I mean; she willingly stuck her neck out for us.”

“Yes, she did,” Paul responded.

“Dad, are you okay with everything that happened now? I mean, on top of your worries about Sharon, I didn’t forget that you were dealing with being homesick,” Scott said. “I know that you weren’t yourself in San Diego, and I was really worried about you.”

“I’m okay now, I have Sharon to thank for that,” Paul said. “She understood me as much as I understood her. I don’t know why, but I have a funny feeling that everything that has happened with her will get resolved very soon.”

Scott looked up from the map he was holding. “Do you mean with her parents?”

Paul nodded, “I think the time will come when she will find the strength to tell her parents exactly what she needs. It’s very much like Julie did.”

“Dad, I think a lot of this has very little to do with them, it’s more about the impact you have on them. You have an amazing way of making people see the best in everything. I think that’s why I’m so glad that you’re my dad,” Scott said softly. “When I was in the hotel earlier, I started wondering how it was that you did so much to help other people. I mean you don’t have to, but you do. I don’t know if I could be as selfless as you are.”

Paul blushed slightly, “You have, Scott. You don’t realize it yet, but you have.”

“Maybe,” the teenager said as he looked back down at the map.  
  
---  
  
Sharon walked slowly towards the stairs, which led up to her mother’s apartment. As she reached the landing, she pulled the key from her pocket and unlocked the front door. Once the door was opened, she walked slowly inside the apartment. “Mom?” she called out, “I’m back.”

Brenda came out of the kitchen at that moment as her gaze came to rest on her daughter. “I was worried about you, where have you been?”

“School,” Sharon’s single word response emerged.

“No, you weren’t in school, I went by to pick you up, and you weren’t there.” Brenda sat down on the couch. “Please tell me where you went.”

Sharon came over and sat down next to her mother. “I’m sorry I lied. I was helping some friends.”

“You haven’t been in Franklin long enough to make friends. Acquaintances yes, friends seems highly doubtful,” Brenda argued.

“It doesn’t matter what they are, they’re gone anyway,” Sharon whispered looking at her mother. At that moment she was not interested in arguing about words or meanings. All she wanted to do was to sit down and contemplate Paul’s words about him and Scott carrying her in their hearts. They had been like poetry, and she smiled weakly. Moments passed and she took in her mother’s haggard appearance. Instead of being dressed impeccably, Brenda’s normally kept hair was hanging in clumps over her shoulders, her eyes were red, and her nose looked swollen. It was apparent that she had been crying. “Mom, are you okay?”

Brenda shook her head, “No Honey, I’m not.” As she spoke, she pulled a small white book from the pocket of her robe and handed it to Sharon who looked at her in shock.

“You read my diary? Mom, how could you?” Sharon snatched the book out of her mother’s hands. “This is private, you had no right.”

“I know, but the things I read were things you should have told me and your father, not kept inside.” Brenda looked at Sharon. “If you had said something to your father or to me about this entire thing, then maybe we could have made things right.”

“Yeah I know; that’s what Paul said.” Once his name had slipped out, she slapped hand over her mouth and looked at her mother. Fear was in her eyes, and she finally looked down at her lap.

“Don’t worry, Sharon. I know about Paul, and I read about what he did for you,” Brenda said. “Why didn’t you talk about him to me or your father?”

“I figured you’d think I was crazy. You’re a Psychologist, and talking about things like that would have freaked you out,” Sharon whispered as the doorbell rang. She looked at her mother with fear in her eyes.

“Go to your room and close the door. I’ll handle everything,” Brenda said softly.

“Thanks, Mom,” Sharon grabbed her books and rushed down the hall to her room.  
As soon as her daughter’s door had closed, Brenda went to the door and answered it. She was not surprised when she saw George Fox and Ben Wylie on the opposite side.

“Mrs. Peters, where’s your daughter?” Fox demanded anger etched in his voice.

“Not here, I guess she’s still at school,” Brenda answered.

“She told me that you picked her up from school so that she could go to the hotel to talk to me about what she saw Friday night,” Fox answered.

Brenda looked at the man. “Mr. Fox, my daughter is a child, not a baby. I told you what I know, and I think that now that my daughter has spoken with you, you have all the information you need from her. You and your associate should go.”

“Your daughter aided in the escape of federal fugitives,” Fox said assuredly.

“That’s not possible, Sharon went to talk to you and give you the information that you have been harassing her for,” Brenda said as she looked from Fox to Wylie. “Your methods are highly irregular and I don’t want you to have any further contact with my daughter. Speaking as a parent and a licensed Psychologist, I feel that this would be damaging to her. If I find out that you are still harassing anyone in my family again, I will not hesitate to contact your supervisor and it won't be pretty.”

Fox nodded defeated before he turned to leave. His expression indicated that the only thing left for him to do was get on the first flight back to Washington. The lead turned up dry and there was no hope with pressing this family further. He left the apartment with Wylie following.

Once both men were gone, Brenda closed the door and sighed with relief. She watched from the living room window as they got into their car and drove away. Once she was certain that they were gone, she went down the hall to her daughter’s room. “Sharon, they’re gone, you can open the door now.”

The door opened, and Sharon smiled weakly. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I had to help them. They’re my friends.”

The sight of her daughter’s face streaked with tears was almost too much for Brenda. Instead of scolding her, she wrapped her arms around Sharon. “It’s all over now.”

“You’re not angry at me for keeping this from you?” Sharon asked when their hug ended and she looked in the eyes of her mother.

“Maybe, but I’m more angry with myself,” Brenda said softly. “Listen, Honey, there are some things I need to talk to you about, and none of them have anything to do with what you did for Paul.”

“What?” Sharon asked as she sat down on the bed and Brenda sat down next to her.

“It’s about a decision I made regarding where you’ll be living from now on,” Brenda said as she looked at her daughter. “I think it was a mistake forcing you to come here.”

“But, I thought it was decided last week that I would be staying here?” Sharon asked as she sat up.

“I know, it was, but what can be decided can also be undecided. I called my lawyer while you were out helping your friends, and I decided to send you back to live with your father,” Brenda said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “He said that it wouldn’t be too difficult to reverse the decision since it seems to be what everyone wants. I know that I should have talked to you about what you wanted instead of going through with this. I guess the only way I could have found out what you really thought was to read your diary. You weren’t exceedingly forthcoming, you know,” she smiled sadly. “I’m really sorry that this hurt you, Sharon. I thought that maybe by doing that, it would help to heal the pain I caused you.”

“Oh Mom, I wanted to talk to you about it, but I was afraid to. I love you and I love Daddy, but I also love the seaside, and I lived there most of my life. I felt like I was being torn into two pieces over this,” Sharon said as she looked at her mother earnestly. “I didn’t want to hurt you or Daddy, but I was happy there, and I knew that you were happy here. I thought if I said anything about how I felt that I was the one being selfish. Paul said that I shouldn’t have been so selfless, but I never really saw myself that way.”

“Paul was right,” Brenda said a gentle smile on her face.

“I love you, Mom,” Sharon sat up and wrapped her arms around her mother.

“I need to get dressed now, we have a long drive ahead of us,” Brenda said once their embrace ended. “But, Sharon, this means that you will spend holidays and part of the summer here with me, is that okay?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Sharon smiled weakly. “Keep my room as it is, I’m kind of getting used to the carpeting anyway.”

Brenda smiled and nodded as she got up and left her daughter alone.

Sharon looked outside the window, wanting to cry. She finally had everything she wanted. Maybe having her mother read her diary was the biggest favor she could have done. She did not know why, but somehow she had the feeling that Paul and Scott had more to do with the changes in her life than anything she could have written down in a diary.

She smiled weakly as she walked over and opened the closet door. Her thoughts were about the friends she had found there. Maybe there was something good to be said about Franklin after all, and she never even realized it. That night, she would be back at home in her bed, but now that things with her mother were getting better, she had two places she could call ‘home’, and each was unique and special.

She reached over and grabbed the seashell necklace off the nightstand and put it around her neck. There was a feeling of joy at returning to San Diego, but also a feeling of bitter sweetness because she knew that her mother would be alone.

Epilogue: Three Months Later

Three months later, Sharon walked out to her favorite spot on the beach. It was late in the evening and her father and Penny had rented some movies and were home watching them. Sharon had excused herself to go outside and before leaving, she grabbed her winter jacket as she stepped outside, walked across the deck and out onto the sand. Her warm sweatshirt combated the Pacific wind, but she put on the jacket and zipped it up.

It was now five days before Christmas, and she knew that this was her last night on the beach before her mother would pick her up to go to Franklin for the holidays. She smiled; she had been looking forward to visiting her mother for weeks. Over the past months, she had grown accustomed to dividing her time with her parents. She recalled at that moment what Scott had said about both her parents loving her so much that they would want to do everything for her. Rather than drowning in self-pity, the feelings that replaced the pain were that of pride and love.

She could see the moon reflecting off the water, but she could also see that the stars were dotting the night sky. As she stared up at them, she began to wonder where it was her two friends were. Were they safe and happy? Had they found Scott’s mother? Every time, she looked at the sky, she remembered Paul and Scott, and what their friendship meant to her.

Standing there alone, she began to reflect on what happened over the course of the past three months. This was where she had met him the first time and because of that, there would always be a special meaning to this particular stretch of beach.

_Paul,_ she thought to herself, _whatever my mom thinks, I know, you’re the reason everything is the way it is._ She sat down on the sand and her gaze remained on the sky. As she raised her head, she found herself smiling.

A lone figure was now walking along the beach and she stood up. Maybe her question was about to be answered. She smiled all the while being reminded of the night in September when she had seen a man holding blue light in his hand. She approached him and noticed that he appeared to be lost in thought. “Excuse me, but don’t I know you?” she asked keeping her voice soft.

The man turned around, his blue eyes meeting hers and widening when he saw who had addressed him. “Sharon?”

“Uh-huh.” she nodded and smiled when she saw him standing a few feet away, “hi, Paul.”

“I’m surprised to see you again,” he said as he reached out to give her a hug.

She nodded wrapping her arms around him, “me too. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Both stood unable to move or speak after the embrace loosened. Finally, Sharon spoke, “after you left, I went home, and my mom and I talked. She brought me here to live with my father.”

He smiled, “I’m glad. You look much happier now.”

“I am.” She looked around, and when she did not see Scott, her next question emerged. “How’s Scott?”

“He’s fine. He’s at the winter dance tonight at his school,” Paul said. “I think he’ll feel badly that he missed out on seeing you.”

She smiled weakly as she wiped a stray tear from her eyes as she remembered all the events that took place back in Franklin. After a few seconds, she looked into his eyes. “Are you still homesick?”

“Not anymore,” he said softly but smiled, “you helped me with that.”

“I did?” Sharon asked.

He nodded, smiled, glanced over at her, and then back out at the water. Both of them seemed to be deep in thought about everything that had happened, and finally he broke the silence. “This is where we first met, isn’t it?”

She nodded, but her answer came out barely above a whisper, “yes.”

“Is this a special place for you?” Paul asked softly.

She looked up at the sky, her eyes on the stars, then the water, and finally she looked at him. “This place serves as a reminder to me.”

“What sort of reminder?” Paul asked.

“Of you and Scott,” Sharon said softly and closed her eyes for a moment, not believing that this conversation was actually taking place. When she opened them again, he was no longer there. “Paul?” she whispered his name, but when she looked down the beach to see if he was walking along the coast, he was not there either. She closed her eyes once again, and when she opened them, she was still alone. “Paul?” she spoke to the stillness a second time, but when there came no answer, she sighed deeply and looked back at the stars, which were blanketed across the night sky.

Was it just her imagination or had he actually been there? She was not certain, but she knew that although she could not remember if Paul had been there that night, he had been there when she needed him, and that was all that mattered. She made her way back up the beach towards the beach house; the light from the moon and stars lighting her way.

The end


End file.
